Food, supplies and straw are now on the way to 10 checkpoints along the 1,600-kilometre trail of the Yukon Quest sled dog race.

It is now just a matter of time until the 28 teams leave the starting line in Whitehorse on Feb. 10 and meet up with their supplies on the way into Fairbanks, Alaska.

Nine local mushers and Minnesota resident Tom Benson delivered their drop bags to the Whitehorse location at the historic White Pass and Yukon Route train depot over the weekend.

Mushers were dropping off an average of 40 to 50 bags each, said Reinhard Semmel, a race official.

Dawson City-based musher Peter Ledwidge dropped the least number of bags at 18, while Carcross-area musher Catherine Pinard put the most on the truck at 43.

Each bag is able to weigh up to 27.2 kilograms (60 lbs).

Semmel estimated the value of the food alone in the drop bags would be approximately $10,000.

The bags contain a variety of food ranging from meat and fish snacks to kibble. Beaver, chicken skins, horse, beef, ram, turkey, pork and hot dogs are favourite items for the dogs.

Returning veteran musher Frank Turner said the trick with packing supplies for the dogs is to ensure a 'goodie bag' is always available for the dogs to eat something they like.

Turner is also trying a new line of dehydrated dog food for the trail, which has duck, markel and tripe dinners that just need water added to them.

The meals are working great out on the training runs and the dogs seem to really like them, said Turner.

'You'd want to eat the duck,' he joked. 'I want to eat the duck. It looks pretty good.'

He added the dehydrated food may work better than frozen food in the case of warm weather. Frozen meat can thaw and spoil, he said.

Pinard decided to try some dehydrated meals made for humans on the race this year, packing three to see how they work.

She said she's unsure how she'll like them, so she also put the usual bread, jerky, ginger snacks and fruitcakes into the supplies.

Trail mix, granola bars, chocolate bars, dried fruit, health drinks, dried meat, pasta and frozen soup are also quick and easy favourites for the mushers while on the trail.

Kiara Adams, once again the youngest musher on the trail, said she found packing for this year's Quest far easier then last.

Adams started the race in 2006, but was among the five mushers rescued by military helicopter off the top of Eagle Summit after a white-out and extreme winter conditions stranded them on the mountain.

Deciding whether to sign up for the Quest again was a challenging choice, Adams told the Star.

'I almost decided I wasn't,' she said.

Adams had thought last year would be her go at the race and then she would attend school this year. Running the Quest again just wasn't part of her plans, she said.

'It was a big decision and I struggled with it. It's a lot of time and money to invest in something if you aren't sure about it.'

Adams, however, said she came to the conclusion the fact she was so torn about whether to hit the trail again was probably a pretty good indication that she should do it.

'It shouldn't be hard to have a better race than last year,' she joked.

Adams spent hours and hours preparing her drop bags last year anxious about preparing for her first Quest. This year, she started a week later and finished earlier.

She's decided to leave more drop bags at each checkpoint this time around and organized their contents differently.

'I'm a little bit more prepared and know more what to expect. I knew better what I want and where.'

Adams, by far, still had the most colourful bags with labels on the front decorated with brightly-coloured markers. Beyond stating her name and the drop point, they included pictures of octopus, boats, flowers and smiling suns.

Most of the bags are left over from last year's Quest, she said.

'I re-used them and then it just didn't make sense to have half of them decorated and half of them not. Besides, it's kind of fun to draw on them.'

It also helps them stick out when pulling into the checkpoints, she added.

Three-time champion Hans Gatt said he doesn't have anything new happening in his drop bags.

'It has worked in the past so why try anything new?' he asked.

Gatt placed second last year, arriving at the rerouted Dawson City finish line one hour and 12 minutes behind winner Lance Mackey.

Gatt had arrived at the Scroggie Creek checkpoint for the mandatory eight-hour layover 44 minutes ahead of Mackey, but decided to stay and rest his dogs, giving the Alaskan a four-hour lead.

Mackey got lost on the trail heading back to Dawson and travelled approximately three hours off track before realizing his error.

Had Gatt decided not to rest his dogs for 12 hours, the error could have lost Mackey the race.

'I gave him a big run for the money last year,' said Gatt, 'I just stopped racing, unfortunately.'

Gatt said his dogs look really good this year, with the core of the team remaining the same as 2006.

Two teams from Gatt's Atlin-based kennel will also be running in the Quest 300. The dogs will then be used in the Iditarod, he said.

A record 17 mushers have signed up for the Yukon Quest 300, which will run from Whitehorse to Pelly Crossing.

Nine of the mushers are Yukon-based and Leonard McGlynn will be arriving from Manitoba. Among the contenders are past full-length Questers Paul Geoffrion, Ed Hopkins and Thomas Tetz.

Twelve of the Quest 300 mushers also dropped their bags off in Whitehorse, averaging about eight to 12 each, said Semmel.

There seems to be a real excitement among the mushers this year, he said.

'I don't know why. Nice snow conditions, beautiful weather maybe.'

Turner said he is just happy to be back.

'It's a great feeling. I guess I'm a little excited.'

Turner ran in every Quest from its 1984 inception to 2005 before stating he would be retiring and sat out of the 2006 race making way for his son Saul.

'I am never ever going to use the word retire' again,' he said. 'I'll say disappear' first.'

Turner said he intends to keep up his usual rule of just running his own race while on the trail.

'I'm not going to be chasing those real fast guys, big teams into Fairbanks.'

Gatt also said he would be doing his own thing.

'I just run the race for me,' he said.