Keystone State Park — Attraction in Derry Township

My family (wife, two and a half yr old and a 9 month old) went up on Friday, July 5th- about as busy a night at a campground as you are gonna get. We swam in the lake, ate the concessions, and camped at the Hillside Campground.

Keystone is a hidden gem for those in the greater Pittsburgh area. A short drive from the city and you are in a tiny cluster of hills with most everything you need for a little R&R. Yes, there are bigger and better lakeside campgrounds. Yes, the water is brown. But... You are swimming in a lake, after all. Not a hotel pool.

The beach is rough grade sand, but combed and clean. The concessions had your basics; ice cream, hot dogs, cheese fries, and such. The showers were clean but the cheap nozzles made it difficult to get the sand off. The rest rooms were well laid out to handle a lot of people. There is a lot of direct sun so bring a beach tent or umbrella. There are trees planted along the parking lot to help keep vehicles cool.

Kids loved the swimming and playing on the jungle gym. I've enjoyed fishing along the shore in years past (and plan to do so in the future)

At night, we could definitely hear the motor raceway. It stopped at midnight. It was audible, no question, but just enough to drown out the crickets. No earplugs needed. Very nice view of the stars after the lights went down.

Campsite had nice restrooms. Hillside Camp is more private than Lakeside Loop. But even many hillside camps are too exposed. Our site was private, but on a slope with tough access from the car. Not the best layouts for tent camping, honestly. But, it serves for a quick getaway.

Keystone is tiny, and easy to criticize. But they do a lot with what they have. The people are always real nice and I always leave refreshed. What more...

We have been going to keystone for 36 years! Almost my entire life! We always have an amazing time! But today, I spilled a bag of sun chips from my lap, and a goose with a cleft beak came up to me and started eating the chips like he was starving! I literally never saw a goose eat that fast! He must have loved them! But as I was sitting there talking to the goose a man, who claims to work there for the last 2 weeks, inserted himself into mine, and my children's time, to harass us! Telling me I'm breaking the law and I'm not allowed to do that, as I told him I spilt the chips on accident, he started threatening to have me arrested and all this crazy talk! So we ignored him and started just talking to the goose again, when he made the 5 kids he was with huddle together to make "a plan"! After they huddled, him and the oldest kid with him (15-17 y/o), attacked the goose and literally chased the poor thing into some tall grass at the complete opposite end of the beach! where Lord knows what they did to the poor goose! It was THE sickest thing I've ever witnessed at Keystone! and if this man works for the park I hope he is fired! I tried to call the park number to report him but I didn't get an answer. I read all the signs and the only thing I saw was don't chase or attack wildlife, yet that's exactly what this man did, while telling me I broke the law because I "let" the goose eat my spilled chips! And he had a child do it as well! 🤢🤢 The other 4 kids with him looked disgusted with him as well! They did not go over towards where him and the other boy were for a while. Sad world we live in when a state park worker will hurt a goose who's already had a rough life. 💔🙏🏼 Other than that, we of course enjoyed our time spent there before this awful human inserted himself into our...

We rented four of the modern family cabins for a week for an extended family vacation. It was our third PA State park we have done this in ... and was a great experience.

After spending a week at Black Moshanon and Ricketts Glen in past years, I must say this was our favorite.

The park is kept in better shape than the other parks (though none are bad) and the grounds crew must be complimented.

There's also a few extra amenities that were nice .. at the lake / beach area you can "check out" things like sports gear, corn hole, etc by just giving them your license. The snack stand was top notch and the bath and restroom area were very spacious and clean.

The cabins were great as always and have the standard two room setup (one full and the other room has two bunk beds) that all state parks have. It's so nice to have the open floorplan with couch and two chairs next to the full kitchen area and dining room table that seats 6.

The kitchen is great with a microwave and full oven and range .. as well as a full size refrigerator. We cooked all our meals and everything worked great.

You'll have to bring everything .. cooking utensils, pots, pans, etc, but it's well worth it.

The cabins are all semi private and spaced at a nice distance from each other. With renting 4 of them, we were able to have our own space .. but could easily walk to each other's cabins and the kids floated between them all with ease.

The beach area and boat launch area are within walking distance of the cabins .. but it's a little hike. We decided to drive down to bring all our stuff easily.

We will definitely be back...