Gateway to Keyhole State Park

Pine Haven is a peaceful, recreational community in Crook County Wyoming south of Devils Tower, nestled in the pine trees on a Peninsula of Keyhole State Park and Reservoir with two accesses to the water and two boat launching areas. We extend a warm invitation for you to visit our land and our people, to enjoy the water sports, golf, friendly people and gentle rolling plains, wide-open prairies, beautiful mountains, sunsets by the lake and a visible abundance of birds and wildlife in Northeast Wyoming. Fill up the gas tank, pack a lunch and have some fun exploring this area located on the western edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.

The culture of the old west is still very much alive, in the past, Wyoming had all the ingredients of the western frontier. Battles raged between Indians and the U.S. Army. The Little Bighorn Battlefield where General George Armstrong Custer and his troop of the 7th cavalry were killed is just across the state line in Montana. Ranchers rode the range through dust storms and blizzards. Range wars were fought to violent extremes between cattle and sheep ranchers and between large ranchers and homesteaders. Outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed banks and terrorized small settlements. At that time Wyoming was a desolate and unforgiving place with few settlers - but not today the Wild West is much calmer and the bucking bronco on our license plate characterizes Wyoming as the typical American West, although it was never as violent as Hollywood westerns would have you believe.

Wyoming is a land of contrasts, driven in a large part by its northern, inland location and the huge range in elevation. Where the Belle Fourche River flows out of the state at the Wyoming - South Dakota Border, the elevation is only 3,125 feet above sea level. Yet several mountain ranges top 13,000 feet, with Gannett Peak (13,804-foot) located in the northern Wind River Mountain Range on the Continental Divide in west-central Wyoming being the highest. Overall, Wyoming is a very high state; only Colorado to our south has a higher average elevation in the United States.

A good example of Wyoming's arresting contrasts is the United States first National Monument "Devils Tower" which is truly a unique feature composed of a rock found only in a few places throughout the world and hundreds of parallel cracks that divides the Tower into large hexagonal columns in the beautiful Black Hills of Northeastern Wyoming. The visitor's center located at the base of the tower is at an elevation of 4,250 feet above sea level. The tower itself rises 865 feet above this point, literally towering above peaceful pines and a boulder field created over thousands of years by columns that have fallen and broken into pieces. The surrounding countryside is home to a countless number of plants and wildlife which attracts visitors from around the world to see this magnificent rock formation that scientists believe is the core of a volcano exposed after millions of years of erosion caused by weather and the Belle Fourche River which, meanders around the base of the tower, 1,267 feet below the summit. While the name of Devils Tower may not be a household word, millions will recognize the shape of the Tower from the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which featured the Tower as the landing spot for the awesome Mother Ship.

Just south of Devils Tower National Monument is where the real fun begins at Keyhole State Park and Reservoir considered the Recreation Capital of Northeast Wyoming next to the Town of Pine Haven is approximately 14,720 acres of excellent recreation opportunities in Crook County, Wyoming. This Lake offers excellent fishing for walleye, northern pike, Smallmouth bass and channel catfish. Visitors also have the opportunity to view many type of wildlife including pronghorn antelope, mule deer, white tailed deer, red fox and wild turkeys. Keyhole is also a mecca for approximately 225 species of both resident and migrating birds, which can be observed in Keyhole State Park or within a mile of the park boundaries. With the four seasons being comparatively mild, and glorious weather from spring through fall and the long days of summer in Northeast Wyoming provides a lot of time for outdoor activities and sightseeing. Golf, camping, boating, water skiing and fishing are the favorite summer activities, and for the winter months, there is ice fishing, ice boating, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing.

If you are traveling from the West for pleasure and sightseeing to Mount Rushmore National Memorial or traveling from the East to Yellowstone National Park along Interstate 90 a good place to stop and relax is just north of the Interstate in Pine Haven and Keyhole State Park which is one of the largest lakes in the state. You would only be adding 5 Miles to your trip by using the Pine Haven Loop, with a scenic view of Devils Tower, the Lake and Wildlife to enjoy the great outdoors, sunsets and time by the lake to relax and get the necessary supplies that you need.

Pine Haven and Keyhole State Park are easily accessed from Interstate 90 by taking exit 153 if your coming from the west. Then turn right a distance of 1.2 miles to the center of Moorcroft. Then turn left and go north on U.S. Highway 14 towards Devils Tower National Monument, a distance of 5.1 miles to State Highway 113. Then turn right and go east a distance of 5.1 miles to the Pine Haven Road. If you are coming from the east on Interstate 90 you can take exit 165 and turn right on Pine Ridge Road and go north approximately 3.6 miles to the Old Sundance Road. Then turn left and go west 4.0 miles to the Pine Haven Road.