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

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Mar 22, 2025World Water Day
Jan 17, 2025Brown pelican, San Diego, California
Dec 26, 2019It s Slovenia s Independence and Unity Day
Dec 1, 2021Antarctica Day
Mar 13, 2021All hail the king of shrubs
Dec 10, 2019Congratulations, 2019 Nobel Prize laureates!
May 29, 2018The first ascent
Jan 7, 2020Jupiter and the Galilean moons
Nov 10, 2022Badlands National Park turns 44
Oct 10, 2019A star blows a bubble
Nov 30, 2020A water loch-ed castle
Mar 26, 2021The wild heart of Tasmania
Jan 19, 2026Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan 14, 2019An island oasis in the Indian Ocean
Aug 14, 2019Lizard of mystery
Apr 9, 2021A timeless view of the night sky
Jul 3, 2023The dog days of summer
Sep 14, 2023Przewalskis horses, Hustai National Park, Mongolia
Jan 20, 2018Yellow-eyed penguins, Moeraki, New Zealand
Apr 30, 2025International Jazz Day
Jan 16, 2020In the valley of the doll
Mar 13, 2018Wayag Islands in the Raja Ampat Islands of Indonesia
Aug 4, 2019Pups of the prairie
May 18, 2025International Museum Day
Jun 11, 2019Installation art turns heads
Dec 19, 2023Castle Square, Old Town, Warsaw, Poland
Dec 26, 2018Boxing Day—a shopper’s delight
Dec 15, 2025Spiegelgracht canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 8, 2022Mother s Day
Jun 2, 2022Queen Elizabeth s Platinum Jubilee