a canoe floating in the Adirondacks
a boat traveling through Glen Canyon
standing stones in Galicia, Spain
an elephant in the rain forest in Havelock Island, India
a dog stretching in front of a blue church in Mexico
a misty Five Colored Lake in China
the Callanish Standing Stones in Scotland
an illuminated Owachomo Bridge at night
a panda with her cub in China
the colorful North Fork in Alaska
two penguins in Antarctica
two Japanese macaques in a hot spring
elephant seal bulls in South Georgia
basalt pinnacles in Scotland
a whale shark surrounded by fish in Australia
a Kermode bear in British Columbia, Canada
an arch near Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands
clouds above the Andes Mountains
aerial view of Lake Powell in Utah
aerial view of Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring
lava flowing into the ocean in Hawaii
Dun Aengus from above
boulders at the edge of the Dead Sea
divers surrounding a fake moai statue underwater
aerial view of Mount Saint Helens
an aerial view of sandbars along the Pacific Ocean
a wildlife overpass in Alberta
a sea bird rookery on a cliff in Saint Kilda
orcas feeding on herring
monarch butterflies in Mexico
a sunflower field in Montana
diving gentoo penguins
a vibrant, multihued slot canyon in Arizona
archeologist entering the Holtun cenote
camel thorn trees in Namibia
waterfalls at sunset in Seljandrafoss, Iceland
three bears in front of halted traffic in Denali
aerial view of the rivers in Kronotsky Nature Reserve, Russia
botanists on a redwood tree in California
the cracked Mingun Pagoda
a vibrant sand and sky at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
a mountaineer on Hkakabo Razi
a stormy Badlands National Park
a green Aurora Borealis over Tennevik River
two women underwater with their surfboards
a gelada with an infant leaping over a stream in Ethiopia
badlands in Death Valley National Park
salt flats in Death Valley National Park
the valleys of Texaco Hill in Kansas
kayakers and manatees in Three Sisters Spring
a Sherpa in Nepal
the cuernos in the Andes
sunlight streaming through the Great Arch of Getu He
1 of 53
An Adirondack canoe floats on Connery Pond in Lake Placid, New York, at sunrise.
Photograph by Michael Melford, Nat Geo Image Collection

53 Gorgeous Nature Photos to Inspire Happiness

These wild spaces will put a smile on your face.

ByNational Geographic Staff
July 21, 2017

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