Great, Funky Option if Everything in Glacier Park is Booked
When passing through Glacier National Park in the middle of July, we (not surprisingly) couldn't find any open spots within the park, and every camp host we talked with all said the same thing: "go to San-Suz-Ed," which is located just two miles west of Glacier on Highway 2. One of the benefits of this park is that even if it appears full, there's a large grassy lot where tents can set up for about $25. Not the most amazing campground, but we had fun and it's way better than sleeping in your car if everything else is either booked up or way more expensive.
Funkiness: This is definitely a multi-generational family-run-place. The main office/house/maybe B&B is completely filled with all kinds of random collections of breakable things like tea cups, plus years of family portraits and a cooler with a few staples to purchase. When we checked in about 2 minutes before closing we were told by the matriarch that "if your husband drives too fast through the park she'd shoot out our tires…ha ha ha." There's all kinds of random things like old exercise bikes outdoors (which my boys loved playing with) and lots and lots of rules about everything, including keeping cats on leashes. Toilets and showers were clean but not "standard," e.g., one bathroom you might have to squeeze past a tub to get to the toilet. All-in-all, I found the funky little corners and random differences enjoyable, though I think better for a night or two than a week.
Pros:
- Crazy-delicious breakfast served in the main house/building including famous homemade cinnamon roles.
- They squeezed us in when everything else was booked.
- Random fun things throughout like an old swing set and exercise bikes outdoors.
- The main sites were decently sized and well-maintained with cute painted picnic tables and such.
Cons:
- The field we were in was nothing fancy at all and backed up right against a country road.
- Some longer-time campers plus the occasional abandoned-looking piece of machinery were more run down than other parts of the camp.