Lijah’s winning photo, called “No Boundaries,” can be seen above. “There is nothing more thrilling than taking the car out on the road and exploring new places. Unfortunately, being a new driver, my parents have set a lot of boundaries that limit how far I can go. I made it as far as the Columbia River Gorge, and it was a perfect crisp clear night for stargazing. So we removed the top of our car, sat on the roof, and gazed into the endless universe. Exploration is not bound by how far your car can take you, but by how far your imagination can take you into the stars,” Lijah says.

See the winning photos from the National Geographic Student Expeditions Photo Contest.

See Lijah’s Hands-On Explorer Challenge photo.

We’re sorry to report that there won’t be a 2013 Hands-On Explorer Challenge.

2013 is National Geographic’s 125th anniversary, so we’ll have lots of other fun projects and programs coming your way.

If you’re in 9th – 12th grade, you still have time to enter the student photo contest to win a prize to National Geographic Student Expedition London Photography Workshop. Otherwise, keep us posted about all your adventures by posting your pictures on My Shot.

Keep an eye on this space for announcements, contests, records, and ways you can help save animals and explore our planet!

Keep exploring!

Listen to the Zooniacs interviewing the expedition members on the Big Valley Radio website.

Amelia: Montana is great. But this is all I can say: Go to it!

Arabella: If it was up to me, I would stay right up until school started. I liked the water rafting the best!

Ben: It was really fun meeting everybody, and it was just amazing seeing everything and being with people that love exploring as much as I do.

Caitlin: Going on this Montana expedition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My favorite part of the expedition was discovering dinosaur bones and seeing mountain goats.

Dillian: It was so beautiful words can’t describe it.

Edward: It was so awesome to come here and see the animals that I could not see where I live.

Ellie: Montana could very well be the most beautiful place on Earth. From the exotic wildlife to the dramatic landscapes, it gives me a good reason to see America first.

Emily: Throughout this trip, I’ve experienced many things, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I never want to leave.

Hannah: The trip was really amazing. We all got along so well because we all enjoyed every aspect of the trip.

Jackson: I really liked learning about the different edible plants that you can find in the wilderness.

Jordan: It was amazing. I learned so much about wildlife and different things I thought I would never learn about.

Lena: It was awesome! My favorite part was seeing the two different kinds of bears. I will miss everyone, but I’m looking forward to the D.C. reunion!

Katherine: Majestic mountains and powerful rivers made this a trip of a lifetime. I’ve loved every minute of it! Thanks, NG Kids!

Mariah: I’m gonna miss everybody!

Michael:The trip was amazing. It was the journey of a lifetime.

At the top, we decided to go on a hike to Flower Point. To get there, I would first have to hike on a very large hill, and luckily, we were at the top, so we got to go downhill for a lot of it. Along the way, we tried to identify many different flowers and trees. After walking for a while, we decided that unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for us to go all the way to Flower Point. So, we had to turn back. On the way back up, it was very hard for me to hike because it was so steep.

When we got to the top again, we jumped into another gondola. This time however, it was about to rain. It was so foggy and cloudy, that it had a spooky touch to it. When we got to the end, we tried to go on the slide the rest of the way down the mountain, but it was closed because of the rain. So, without a rain jacket, I hopped onto a ski lift with two other people, and rode down. We started to sing songs. However, in the middle of the ski lift ride, the chairs stopped for a few seconds, and then eventually moved on. (That was scary!) When we got down to the bottom of the mountain, we got on the bus to go to the hotel.

As an added bonus to this wonderful day, in the morning, we got to meet Jack Hanna. I asked him this question: “If you could be a kid for one week, and go anywhere in the world, where would you go, and what would you explore?” He said that he would want to go to Rwanda, where the mountain gorillas live. Today was such a great day. (Too bad it’s our last day in Montana!)

After lunch, as we started hiking back down the mountain, we saw a female mountain goat with twins, which our guide said was very rare. (I named the goat Georgina the Jumping Goat! I like to name all the animals I see, so I named the grizzly bear that we saw earlier in the week Benny the Bounding Bear!) The mother was still losing her winter fur, so it looked like she had a ripped coat on. I wanted to go cuddle with the babies, but I doubt their mother would have appreciated that. As I was passing a grove of trees, I saw some snagged goat hair, which I stuffed into my pocket.

It was pretty hard getting up the mountain in the snow because we kept
slipping, but the way down was awesome. We each got in a bag and
sledded down the steep slope. Once I accidentally did Somersault
backwards down the mountain! On the way back to our hotel, we saw a
bull moose wading in a river, which I deemed Manny the Maniacal Moose!

Dillian:
We were at 6,640 feet when we finally saw six mountain goats and two bighorn sheep.

The temperature was 50 to 60 degrees, but dropped to be much cooler at night. They were losing their winter fur because it’s summer now. But in the winter they need their heavy, winter fur because the temperatures drop to 20 to 30 degrees below zero, with snowfall of more than 20 to 30 feet deep! The mountain goats had babies that were born in April but were a already pretty big. There were lots of beautiful creeks and lakes on our hike. We hiked to one called Hidden Lake–all the way through snow. Our guides brought garbage bags for my new friends and me to sled on. It was so much fun! I went down the snow-covered hill at least ten times!

The trail was so awesome…people of all ages and skill levels attempted this wonderful hike. We had a picnic lunch overlooking a very scenic lake that looked crystal blue from a distance. The hike was around three miles round-trip. I felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest. You had to step very carefully or fall down. The lake had large chunks of ice even though it was in the middle of July. This was my favorite place so far on the trip because we got to play in six feet of snow. That is as deep as my dad is tall. We also had an exciting, but cold and painful, snowball fight (we packed the snow real tight). It was a great day!

They were all originals, from the seats to the doors, painted a bright, bold red. The inside seated 18 people including the driver. I stepped up onto the bus and sat on handmade leather seats made with oak and plated in metal.

Within two minutes the bus started moving. Plenty of wind sent my
journals and other things flying. We headed onto the Going to the Sun
Road that used to be used as a game trail before the road was created.
Our first stop was Wild Goose Island where we had stopped two days ago
on a boat ride. We were extremely lucky today–there was no wind. Our
guide explained that the particular location we were standing was
usually very windy. We stood there for a while taking pictures and
listening to the guide. The lake surface was so smooth that it seemed
like we were staring at a mirror. The guide was explaining some of the
local animals. The one I remember most clearly was the pygmy shrew. It’s
a tiny creature about an inch long that can take down other animals
three to four times its size.

Back on the bus, we continued driving,
stopping several times to take pictures. A part of the road was an
840-foot tunnel that had been hand-dug, five-and-a-half feet per day.
“We love Glacier, yes we do. We love Glacier, how about you??!!!!!!”
echoed around the three buses as we all screamed our excitement. A sweet
scent, created by sage bushes, filled the air. We stopped at the Sun
Rift gorge, a massive canyon (at least to me) with swift, swirling
waters. A bridge arched over the gorge, sending shade over us.

On our
way to the Logan’s Pass visitor center, we passed a curve in the road
called the Siyaeh Loop. The bend was named after an Indian whose mother
named him after a rabid dog that appeared on the day he was born. We
reached Logan’s Pass visitor center shortly and hiked up to a
snow-covered field. I have hosted and been through many snowball fights,
but never one in July. What was supposed to be a hike became a
full-blown snowball fight. Cameras got set aside as we battled in
shorts, sunglasses, and sneakers.

Our hands cold, we headed back to the
bus. On our way to West Glacier, we had many cascades splash us. They
lined the roadsides, rock-touching waterfalls. Gorgeous scenery hovered
on both sides of the road–mountains on the left, and rocks and greenery
on the right. After a long, enjoyable ride, we arrived in West Glacier
just in time for lunch.

Michael: Today we went on a 5-mile hike to Avalanche Lake. The
cedar trees looked majestic as they towered over me. The layers of moss
growing on the forest floor made me think of home, because of the deep
green of the forest floor. I saw small insects crawling around in the
dirt amongst the rocks and the trees. I thought of how small they were,
but how great their impact is on the life cycle of the forest. I
slipped inside of small cracks in trees and looked up at the sky through
the broken-off tops. Sweat stuck my shirt to my body because it was so
hot and we had been hiking all afternoon.

When we reached the lake, I
felt as if I had accomplished something very great. As I prepared to
slide into the water, I wondered if it was colder than I thought it
would be. In fact, it was so cold that the icy tang of the lake made my
adrenaline rush as fast as the rapids in a river. It is hard to put the
hike into words, but what I can put into words is that Montana is a
great place to explore!

When we got back to the Lodgepole Gallery Tipi Village we played some Native American games including “Scream and Run” (children played this game so they could warn their parents if someone invaded their
territory). We also played Double-ball. Double-ball was traditionally played by women. You had to fling a ball above a bar to score one point and if the ball wrapped itself around the bar you scored two points.
Some other games we played were “Salish Hoop and Dart,” “Blackfeet Hoop,” and “Long Arrow and Sticks in the Fist” (a guessing game).

After we played some games we made a “Scream and Run” stick. We all decorated them a different way, making each unique and interesting in our own way.

Today was really interesting and we all learned a lot, including some Blackfoot words like Oki Napi, which means “Hello, my friend.” And we learned that dogs used to pull up to 120 pounds (like tepees). Today was
really interesting and fun!

Hannah: There is a common misconception that all Native Americans, including the Blackfeet, still lead the lives of their ancestors, but they live a modern life with little contrast to the rest of the American population. The traditional way the Blackfeet would hunt buffalo was by using a Buffalo Jump to run the animals over the
edge. That resulted in the death of the large, aggressive animals. They were very resourceful in using the entire buffalo. The women used the stomach as a cooking pot. Although buffalo was the main source of
nutrition in the earlier times, having the chance to eat buffalo in this age is a special occasion. Tonight I was given the chance to eat native buffalo soup and buffalo cooked in the form of meatloaf. The meat highly resembles beef but is leaner and more compact. I favored the meatloaf over the soup, but both were delicious. Locally picked sarvice berries were served in cream as dessert. Along with this we ate everyday American food like spaghetti, rolls, and salad. This reinforces the fact that Native Americans are not the stereotypes often
depicted in our minds.