Toss the food bags onto your sled and snag the straw bale with your snow hook and someone will lead your dogs to your spot. This is probably the biggest and busiest checkpoint on the trail because all of the teams hit here at once on the first night of the race. There may be thirty or forty other teams on the river with you. The actual checkpoint is in Joe and Norma Delia's two-story cabin high atop the east bank. Joe has been the postmaster of Skwentna since anyone can remember, and was the checker for the first 25 Iditarods.
Water is available from a hole in the river ice.
Increasingly, some mushers are only making a quick stop in Skwentna and then moving on up the trail before stopping for a few hours. Just turn one of your food bags inside out, stuff everything into it, and put your name and address on the bag. You may have postage due when the bag gets back, but it beats having to throw everything away.