Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska, United States Aug. 31, 2025

Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska, United States

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 serving a purpose. They had long guided 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, 2023Saguaro cacti, Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona
How sweet to be a star, floating in the blue.
Aug. 31, 2024Rocks and sand in the Sahara, Algeria

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jun. 1, 2024Pride Month
Apr. 25, 2026World Penguin Day
Majestic lord of the skies
Apr. 17, 2024Black bear cub emerges into spring
Dec. 27, 2023Kirkjufell, Iceland
Aug. 21, 2025Wheatear, Peak District National Park, England
Stairway to where?
Feb. 12, 2025Celebrating Charles Darwin
How sweet to be a star, floating in the blue.
Jan. 22, 2025Ad-Deir, Petra, Jordan
Ive got a lot of problems with you penguins!
Nov. 12, 2024Arches National Park, Utah, United States
Sep. 21, 2023International Day of Peace
Jan. 15, 2026The fishing village of Reine, Norway
Why are blackbirds tied to winter?
Teddy bears of the sea
Incan ingenuity
Nov. 12, 2025Colosseum, Rome, Italy
Apr. 13, 2025Songkran—Thai New Year
Staying in the loop
Aug. 11, 2024Wooden path to Kennedy Lake, Vancouver Island
Jan. 7, 2025Moeraki Boulders, South Island, New Zealand
‘A sustainable and peaceful common future’
High above the Aegean Sea
Behold the architectural marvel
Jan. 26, 2024Northern hawk-owl
Apr. 28, 2024El Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, USA
May 5, 2026A bull moose foraging through the green undergrowth, Quebec
Regal Radiance
Oct. 28, 2024Pumpkin field, Victoria, British Columbia