Scotts Bluff National Monument Aug 31, 2025

Long before GPS, natural landmarks like Scotts Bluff rose high above the prairie, signalling to travellers that they were on the right path heading west. Before Gering became a town in 1887 and decades before Nebraska achieved statehood in 1867, these sandstone and siltstone formations were already guiding thousands along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. Scotts Bluff National Monument is named after Hiram Scott, a fur trader with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company who died under mysterious circumstances nearby in the 1820s.

© Hawk Buckman/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Aug 31, 2023Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona, USA
Aug 31, 2024Sahara, Algeria

More Desktop Wallpapers:

May 9, 2025Common chameleon
Jan 28, 2024Channel Country, Australia
Feb 16, 2024Pyrrhuloxia bird
Oct 4, 2024World Space Week
Apr 12, 2024Arches National Park, Utah, USA
Feb 12, 2026Blue-footed booby, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Jul 21, 2024Kendwa village, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Feb 11, 2025Yungang Grottoes, Datong, China
Feb 17, 2025Coll dAres, Catalan Pyrenees
Nov 28, 2025Val Brandet, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy
May 2, 2024Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, USA
Sep 13, 2025Point Reyes National Seashore
Nov 9, 2023Birch trees, Drammen, Norway
May 13, 2024Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Jun 9, 2024Bardenas Reales Biosphere Reserve and Natural Park, Navarra, Spain
Apr 18, 2024Medieval city walls, Ávila, Spain
Jan 3, 2024Lake Minnewanka, Alberta, Canada
Aug 25, 2025Calcite Springs Overlook and Yellowstone River, Wyoming, United States
Jan 3, 2026Staubbach Falls at Lauterbrunnen, Canton of Bern, Switzerland
Nov 24, 2023Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA
Feb 28, 2024Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England
Jan 7, 2026Turret Arch the in Arches National Park, Utah, United States
Jun 20, 2025Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Iceland
Oct 20, 2023Pygmy three-toed sloth
Dec 10, 2024Lands End, Cornwall, England
Dec 25, 2025Reindeer, Lapland, Finland
May 30, 2024Everglades National Park, Florida, USA
Apr 12, 2025View from the cupola of the International Space Station
Jan 8, 2025Great Wall of China
Dec 23, 2024Two red-crowned cranes in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan