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:

Jul 28, 2021A goldie gala
Oct 9, 2024Aspens in the White River National Forest, Colorado
Apr 6, 2025National Library Week
Dec 9, 2025National Llama Day
May 22, 2019The artists come to Venice
Dec 14, 2019The Christmas Bird Count begins
Jul 24, 2019Can you see the family resemblance?
Sep 17, 2019Constitution Day and Citizenship Day
Dec 26, 2025Boxing Day
Jan 12, 2023Rumelihisarı in Istanbul, Türkiye
Nov 16, 202250 years of World Heritage Sites
Apr 6, 2019Make way for robots
Nov 6, 2018A truly American monument
Jun 10, 2023Porto Cathedral, Portugal
Mar 13, 2019A look at Uranus, seventh planet from the sun
Mar 27, 2018Macro photograph of a migrant hawker dragonfly
Nov 30, 2020A water loch-ed castle
May 18, 2020Desert rose of Qatar
Jun 24, 2024Kelimutu, Flores, Indonesia
Feb 4, 2025Golden Bridge, Bà Nà Hills, Da Nang, Vietnam
Jul 19, 2018Cosplay strongly encouraged
Jul 29, 2024International Tiger Day
Jul 11, 2021Why, aloe there
Apr 17, 2020It s a ruff life
May 12, 2018It’s World Migratory Bird Day
Nov 28, 2021Celebrating Panama s independence
Sep 9, 2022Belize Barrier Reef
Mar 5, 2020The desert blooms
Jan 7, 2020Jupiter and the Galilean moons
Jun 7, 2023Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico