Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska Aug 31, 2025

Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska

Long before GPS, natural landmarks like Scotts Bluff rose high above the prairie, signaling to travelers 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, 2018Let’s have a ball
Aug 31, 2019Walk the line
Aug 31, 2020At the shore of an inland sea
Aug 31, 2021Bridge over the River Tara
Aug 31, 2022Blue linckia sea stars in Papua New Guinea
Aug 31, 2023Saguaro cacti, Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona
Aug 31, 2024Tassili n’Ajjer, Sahara, Algeria
Aug 31, 2026Building detail of Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jun 29, 2025International Day of the Tropics
Sep 28, 2023World Maritime Day
Mar 26, 2018The Unfinished Obelisk near Aswan, Egypt
Jul 17, 2022The Wave at Coyote Buttes
Dec 29, 2023Oud-West, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oct 31, 2019Protect your neck
Feb 25, 2024Black History Month
Apr 27, 2020That s quite a schnoz, baby tapir
Jun 25, 2020Hoisting a flag for seafarers
Nov 27, 2018The fantastic winter fox
May 2, 2023Jöriseen lakes in the Silvretta Alps, Switzerland
Oct 23, 2019Polar bear capital of the world
Jun 26, 2025Horse Head Rock, New South Wales, Australia
Dec 27, 2018A wonderland in winter
Jun 5, 2021Bird s-eye view on World Environment Day
Nov 11, 2024Veterans Day
Jul 10, 2019Put your helmet on, we’re going for a hike
Jun 23, 2026Mount Fuji on Honshu Island, Japan
Oct 8, 2025World Octopus Day
Nov 24, 2023Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington
Mar 16, 2019Quilts as high art
Aug 17, 2021Wanderin Wawayanda
Jul 26, 2018Exploring the wilder side of New York
Feb 6, 2024Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Nov 26, 2023Fallow deer, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England
Feb 24, 2018A red fox on the Swiss side of the Jura Mountain range
Sep 29, 2024West Cornwall Covered Bridge, Connecticut
Jun 9, 2020Gem State views
Sep 28, 2018Southern right whales sail home to South Africa
Aug 1, 2026Lava flows spill into the ocean on Big Island, Hawaii