The watershed of Keyser Creek was historically affected by coal mining and has been channelized.

Keyser Creek begins in a deep valley on West Mountain in Newton Township.

It then turns southwest for several tenths of a mile and receives Lindy Creek, its first named tributary, from the right.

[2] Keyser Creek joins the Lackawanna River 7.20 miles (11.59 km) upriver of its mouth.

[2] Lucky Run joins Keyser Creek 2.32 miles (3.73 km) upstream of its mouth.

During storm flows, the creek carries large amounts of sediment containing coal waste.

[5] The peak annual discharge of Keyser Creek at its mouth has a 10 percent chance of reaching 1,300 cubic feet (37 m3) per second.

[6] The peak annual discharge of Keyser Creek upstream of Lucky Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching 823 cubic feet (23 m3) per second.

[6] In the early 1900s, Keyser Creek was a clear stream until it reached the repair shops of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

However, in its lower reaches, once it flows off Bald Mountain and into Keyser Valley, its gradient is only on the order of 40 feet per mile (7.6 m/km).

The creek passes through stone and concrete culverts when flowing under Main Avenue.

[4] Keyser Creek has unstable banks due to abandoned mine impacts.

[5] A delta fan made of eroded red ash sediment occurs at the mouth of Keyser Creek.

[6] Keyser Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979.

[13][14] Timothy Keys, Solomon Hocksey, and Andrew Hickman constructed homes at this location in 1769.

[13][14] Another early settler in the area was Cornelius Atherton, who arrived at a hill overlooking the creek in 1782.

[15] Since the 19th century, Keyser Creek has been heavily impacted by coal mining and railroads.

[5] Three steel girder bridges that historically carried the Central New Jersey Railroad across Keyser Creek near its mouth.

The creek also flows under a stone arch culvert with a length of 250 feet (76 m) near the Canadian Pacific rail yard in Taylor.

[16] In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended that Ransom Township, Newton Township, and the city of Scranton include protection of Keyser Creek in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

The creek is on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation's priority list and the Lackawanna River Corridor Association's priority list for the Lackawanna River watershed.

[18] The area in the vicinity of Keyser Creek has experienced habitat loss due to abandoned mine impacts.

What remains of the creek's riparian buffer in some reaches is overrun with invasive plants.

[4] The section of the trail running from Keyser Creek to Taylor is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and is known as the CNJ Extension.