[Dustin] All right. You ready for this?
This is the most nervous I've been
in probably 20 years.
I am about to do the craziest thing
I've done in a very, very long time.
Trying to take a Florida airboat
up the Tsirku which is a crazy river.
Well, everybody says it can't be done.
And if anybody's gonna do it, we're the ones to do it.
I've been told by all the locals,
"Don't do this. You're gonna die."
[man] Here we go!
Yeah, it's off the trailer.
[Dustin] This actually scares me.
Heart's up in my throat right now.
This season, we have to go further
than we've ever gone before.
We're looking for bigger and better gold.
You don't want seatbelts in these things
because if they flip, you wanna jump
as far as you can away
from this thing and get to shore.
We have to push ourselves
like we've never pushed ourselves before.
We will achieve the impossible.
[Casey] Mission control, we are go for launch.
Ready?
Clear.
If we're gonna die, might as well die having fun.
Ready.
Rock 'n' roll.
[airboat revving]
- Woo! - [laughing]
[Dustin speaking]
[Dustin] Woo!
Here we go.
This is gonna be crazy.
[bleep] I love my job!
Woo-hoo!
[narrator] On the all-new season...
[Dustin] I bought a new claim.
Bigger, better gold.
- Dustin! - What?
- I got some gold, man! - Yeah!
[narrator] of White Water.
[Dustin] Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock.
Two rules out here.
Don't get hurt. Don't die.
- Ugh. [bleep]. - You can't put this on TV.
[narrator] Dustin risks everything.
Good gold but nobody can get to it.
What have you gotten yourself into?
[narrator] On a remote new claim.
Woo-hoo!
[narrator] Named for its monster gold.
Nugget Creek is like McKinley on steroids.
[narrator] And located deep in the Alaskan wilderness.
[Todd] There's a bear!
- Anybody nervous? - This is scary.
[Dustin] No machine is gonna make it up there.
I mean, it's not impossible.
I have to find an alternative way
to get to the claim.
[Casey] Kamikaze, dude.
[narrator] New challenges.
Our gold is underneath that snow!
Whoa!
Just like the old-timers, you gotta get something there,
you put it on your [bleep] back and go.
[Casey] It's not safe.
[man] We need to get out of here.
[man] It's a new level of hard.
[Casey] Well, how about, we blow something [bleep] up?
Fire in the hole!
[explosions]
Whoa! I just need a medic.
[narrator] New ground.
All that experience in the past
is gonna come to bear right now.
[narrator] And new hope...
It's a new adventure.
[narrator] for a life-changing pile of gold.
[Casey] Holy [bleep].
[screaming]
[tense music playing]
[Dustin] Right now, I'm looking to change our lives.
It could be the best thing I've ever done
or the dumbest thing I've ever done.
Either way, I'm looking for a big change.
[narrator] In Southeast Alaska,
at the start of a new mining season,
Dustin Hurt gathers his top lieutenants.
- Hey, how's it going y'all? - Hi.
Hey, Dustin. What's going on, brother?
How's it going?
Rough winter, dude.
Let's get back to work.
So, a few things didn't work out
the way I wanted it to.
Uh, first of all, Valdez,
that claim didn't work out.
[narrator] At the tail-end of last season...
[Dustin] Valdez, we made it, guys.
[narrator] Dustin found a new claim...
Most people would think it's difficult
- but we're crazy. - [Dustin grunts]
[narrator] that proved to be gold-rich.
[Kayla] I got gold already.
[Dustin] That damn piece of gold.
[narrator] Dustin was banking on this claim
to be his future.
This place, it's better than anything I've ever dug.
Woo!
They got a lot of snow this year.
There's avalanche problems.
By the time we start digging,
it would be the shortest season
we've ever had.
So, I can't send anybody up there.
We'll just double team McKinley then, man.
Carlos, I don't think we're gonna go back
to McKinley this year.
Oh, bro.
[Dustin] There it is, Fred.
[narrator] Six years ago...
[Dustin] Hot damn.
[narrator] Dustin made the greatest gamble of his life
buying the McKinley Creek claims.
A pocket of gold on this creek could be anywhere
from 1 million to 4 million bucks,
I think, it's gonna make you a wealthy man.
[narrator] Taking big risks...
It's extremely dangerous stuff.
Yeah!
Hit it!
- One! - One!
Fire in the hole!
- [explosion] - [Dustin] Woo-hoo!
[narrator] He accessed areas others didn't dare to mine.
We're good.
Carlos, you're gonna have to pull from there
and walk it over.
[narrator] With his father and crew by his side.
[Kayla] Whoa, whoa, watch out.
[narrator] Dustin risked life...
[Dustin] Run! Run! Whoa!
[narrator] and limb...
[grunting]
[Dustin] All right.
[narrator] to make them all rich.
Holy [bleep].
[Dustin] There's nuggets everywhere.
[laughs]
[narrator] But for all their efforts...
[man] Twenty-five ounces.
[narrator] it never delivered
the millions they wanted.
Whoa.
That looks like more than 27 ounces.
[Dustin] Doesn't it?
[bleep].
I'm a little disappointed.
McKinley has been picked over better than I thought.
Those old-timers are a lot tougher
than people give them credit for.
Some of those areas that I have
just never thought they'd get to.
I get that, man, but it paid the bills.
Well, I'm not doing this to just pay the bills.
- I'm trying to up the ante on this. - [Carlos] Sure.
So, I'm trying to go bigger. Well, just trust me on this.
I'm trying to change our whole damn lives right now.
I've got a few leads.
I think... I think I can pull this off.
It's kind of hard to just follow someone on blind faith.
Uh, I'll figure this out.
I need you to trust me.
We need to figure it out pretty quickly
'cause the season's about to start.
Do what you gotta do, bro.
All right.
[dramatic music playing]
I'm going out on a limb here
to better our season for the...
for the biggest and best gold that I can get.
I'm sick of just making it.
It's time to find some real gold.
[narrator] Dustin's first stop...
[Dustin] Hello?
[Mark] Hey, how you been, man?
- I'm good. - Welcome. Welcome.
Do you want a cup of coffee?
That sounds great.
[narrator] friend and local mining legend,
Mark Sebens.
Okay.
[Mark] I wanted to talk with you anyway
'cause I've got something.
So, I've been digging this hole
underneath where the old flume was.
Actually, let me show you a couple of pictures here.
- Okay. - Um,
so, here's the flume, right?
And the creek is running over here.
[Dustin] You can see the pile of tailings.
- Look at that. - [Mark] Oh, man.
How fun would that be?
[narrator] Mark owns a claim where a hundred years ago
miners built a huge flume to divert Porcupine Creek
and mine the riverbed for thousands of ounces of gold.
Mark's theory, the remains of the pilings
that supported the flume proved that the ground
by the side of the creek was never mined
leaving behind a bonanza in gold.
So, these are just a couple of the chunks from last year.
[Dustin] Whoa. Some good-looking stuff.
[Mark] I don't know if this is something
that'd work for you and your crew. Um...
[Dustin] Well, it's not our normal digging.
I'm definitely looking for something
that hasn't been picked over with.
What I'm actually looking for
is, like, like, a long-term kind of investment.
Like, I'm looking for something big,
dangerous, and possible to get to.
These are the words people have to use.
Obviously, lots of gold, yeah,
I know you know all the miners around here.
And I know you got a lot of history here.
So, I'm just curious if you know anybody
that's got something that would line up.
Do you know Al Gilliam?
The guide?
[Mark] Yeah, he's a hunting guide.
Hunting guide.
I know that he ended up with claims
and they're up the Tsirku River,
uh, at a place called Nugget Creek.
I mean, Al went up there with a dredge.
And they were only in there for a couple of weeks.
And showing some really nice gold but...
[Dustin] Is it really hard to get to?
It's [bleep] hard to get to.
[narrator] Far from the nearest town
and nine miles up the Tsirku River
lies Nugget Creek.
First staked in 1899,
rumor has it that the claim was barely mined
by the handful of old-timers
who could get there.
In the 1980s,
a small group of prospectors
mined the claim for a few seasons.
Despite finding monster nuggets,
they were forced out
by the unforgiving
and deadly wilderness.
That sounds great.
I'd love to talk to the guy
to see if he's willing to sell.
- Give Al a call. - Awesome, man.
- [Mark] All right, man. - All right.
Hey, Dustin. Great to see you again, bud.
Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
[Kayla] I don't really like
this last-minute planning stuff.
We should've already had a plan locked down
and a place locked down before the season started.
Not as the season's starting.
[narrator] After putting in a call to the claim owner,
Dustin brings in Kayla Johanson
to help him scout the claim.
[Dustin] How's it going?
[narrator] She's an expert at reading the land
and spotting the signs of hidden deposits of gold.
[Dustin] So, there's four claims
that I'd like to go look at right now.
They're over the top of the mountains,
zero access, middle of nowhere.
That's pretty steep.
Yeah, it does look steep
but I'm told there's good gold in it.
And it hasn't been hit as hard as McKinley.
Well, hopefully it lives up to its name.
- Yeah. - Hi guys.
- Hey. - How's it going, man?
- Good. - Ready for a ride?
[helicopter engine starts]
[pilot] All right. Everybody hear me okay?
- I got you. - [pilot] All right.
Coming up.
[Dustin] Kayla, how you liking the flight?
[Kayla] It's a little weird.
I've only been in planes.
Is this your first time in a helicopter?
- [Kayla] Yeah. - [Dustin] I'll be damned.
Right up here is McKinley.
[narrator] So far, Dustin's treasure hunt
has lead him up Porcupine, McKinley,
and Cahoon Creeks
which over a century
produced $145 million in gold.
His new prospect shares the same mother lode.
And gold could've been washing down the mountains
for thousands of years.
It's so remote.
Nugget Creek could still hold the jackpot.
[dramatic music playing]
[Dustin] So, it looks like on the map right now
that this... The claim starts right here.
Yeah, this is where the top one is.
And, uh, it's obviously snowed in right now
but if we get a little bit of sunshine,
I don't know how fast this is gonna come away.
Right there, I think, that's where the bottom of the claim is.
And it goes up from there. What do you think?
[Kayla] There's a lot of exposed water
once you get out of that canyon.
So, it's workable, it looks like.
[Dustin] If there's a place we could set down
and walk up there, that would be awesome.
[narrator] To mine the remote claim could cost Dustin
nearly every penny he has.
[pilot] This works for you?
Perfect, man. This is absolutely amazing.
[narrator] So, he wants to see it up close.
Right here is where I think the claim start
and go up that way. Way the hell up there.
Okay. Well, it looks like
there's some exposed bed rock
- right up here. - [Dustin] Yeah.
[Kayla] Uh, that bed rock, it looks like
it goes almost all the way across.
- [Dustin] Like a riffle? - [Kayla] Yup.
Which might be a good sign.
There's a lot of big rocks in there,
more in the granite family,
that make for easier splitting.
Agreed.
There's probably been a few hobbyist divers
but nothing like us.
They've gotten gold out of it.
It's been proven
but it's never been ransacked
like McKinley has.
This is a gamble.
What I need to know is should we pursue this?
You think it's gonna be doable as far as getting out here?
I don't know.
All my life what I've done is
figure out what I want
and then figure out how to get there.
But it is nowhere.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not impossible.
[Dustin] Yeah, that's what that means,
it's not impossible.
I wanna show you something.
They found a four ounce nugget last year
- right up there somewhere. - [Kayla] That's promising.
[Dustin] We found a one ounce nugget in McKinley
but they did this in, like, five days of digging.
Hmm.
I believe...
that this is that changing moment,
that this is the place for that.
Well, there's only one way to find out.
Let's see if we can get these claims,
now that I got eyes on it, I'm pretty psyched.
- [Kayla] Yeah. - I'm ready to go.
[dramatic music playing]
[Dustin] I can't wait to see if I can get these claims.
I'm excited.
It's a new adventure,
new ground, new everything.
If I could pull this off, this could change all of our lives
and that's what I'm hoping for right now.
[narrator] Up ahead.
All right. Paul, good to go. Go ahead and send it.
Come on, baby. Come on, baby.
Little more. Little more. Little more.
Give it. Don't give up.
- [Paul] Yeah. - [man] Yeah.
- Yeah. - [Paul] Good deal.
[Dustin] I need a road. I need all my gears.
And I'm feeling it.
Gonna start to race against the clock right now.
Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Broken!
[bleep].
I don't have any time for this.
[dramatic music playing]
[Dustin sighs]
Stressed out of my damn mind right now.
I'm losing my head a little bit.
[narrator] In Haines, Alaska,
the new gold mining season is just days away.
Dustin Hurt is trying to secure a new claim
that could deliver a huge payday.
[sighs]
Just had a meeting with the claim owner
and he put out a pretty substantial number
for the claims he wants to sell,
and the numbers we're talking about
are enough to break me.
Completely break me.
And if I spend all this money,
and I can't get anywhere with it, we're done.
This would be the last time we try this.
I'll be paying for this for the rest of my life
if we mess this up and don't get gold.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Dustin] What's going on fellas?
- [man] What's up, mate? - [Kayla] What's up, man?
Long time no see, man. How's it going?
[Dustin] Yeah, you guys ready to do it again?
Look at us man.
[narrator] With a deal made,
Dustin's crew assembles.
[Carlos] It doesn't look too bad.
Not bad at all.
It's gonna melt out here fairly quick looks like.
- [Dustin] Yeah. - [Carlos] Yeah, it is. Yeah.
[man] All right. Welcome back, y'all.
[narrator] And they're hungry for gold.
[Wes] What's the plan?
So I don't think we're gonna be going up
to McKinley this year, guys.
So where are we gonna go?
[Dustin] I bought a new claim.
And it's called Nugget Creek.
It looks impossible to get to
and it looks even harder to dig.
I'd like a new challenge.
And I haven't seen the returns that I want to see.
I just... I'm tired of picking up
somebody else's scraps.
What I'd like to do is find something better.
[Carlos] That makes sense.
I'm always down for a new adventure and better gold.
Bigger, better gold,
that's what we're looking for right?
- That's why we do this. - [Carlos] Yeah.
Bigger, better gold.
[Wes] Okay. But here's the thing,
and it just like right on the other side of McKinley
how are we gonna get there?
I mean, what's your plan?
What's your idea?
[Dustin] Well, this is it.
This is our savior.
This is gonna be our main mode of transportation right here.
[narrator] The new claim is so remote.
The fastest way to move this entire gold-mining operation
would be by helicopter,
but that would cost tens of thousands more dollars,
which after making the deal, Dustin doesn't have.
[Carlos] I thought you were crazy
for buying that thing long time ago.
[Dustin] I know it looks old.
Believe me I know how bad it looks.
It's smashed, and it's old, and it's rusted.
It's got six-wheel drive,
so this is gonna be our way in and out.
And it's nine miles up a raging river.
I take that back.
Right now it's frozen,
and after all that snow is melted,
not even this truck will make it across that river.
Mmm-hmm. Not understanding this, man.
Are we gonna, like, drive up a river
- nine miles or across... - [Dustin] Yes.
a river?
We're doing both.
[narrator] Dustin's truck and trailer
will pull his crucial gold mining equipment
18 miles to Nugget creek.
The only access
for the final half of the journey
is up the thawing Tsirku River bed
which is surrounded by five monster glaciers,
with spring temperatures
spiking 40 degrees above normal.
The crew need to make the journey
and bring in all their gear
before the river floods with glacial melt water
cutting off the new claim.
So a hundred-year old military truck,
five ton, that hasn't started in a couple of years,
pulling this CONEX box that's on a makeshift trailer,
going up a nine mile river
which we have a small window of opportunity
before the water rises.
Yeah, I get it.
This is dangerous. Crazy.
As I hear it good gold but nobody can get to it.
Nobody.
That sounds like us.
[narrator] Dustin, has sunk every last dollar
into buying his new claim at Nugget Creek.
[Dustin] All right.
Paul, you're gonna do the honors
of hooking this thing up.
[Paul] Copy, that.
[narrator] Now, success rides on a truck
that's been beaten up by decades
of harsh Alaskan winters.
We're using an antique truck
to get everything to our new site.
Something's that was probably used in the Cold War...
[laughs] you know?
[Paul] All right. Let me tighten these down,
I think we'll be good to go.
- Ready? - [Wes laughs]
[Paul] Come on, baby.
[beeping]
[engine starting]
- [laughs] - [Paul] Yeah!
[Carlos] Yeah!
[Paul] I knew it was gonna start up!
[laughs]
- [Paul] I had faith in it. - [Carlos] It works.
- I knew it was gonna start. - [Carlos] It worked though.
It turned over with no problem.
Hell, yeah.
You had doubt.
I can't believe it,
that thing... that thing was frozen for two years,
and it freaking turned over, no problem.
[Dustin] No problem.
I'm gonna take it for a ride.
[James] Get in.
- [Dustin] Good to go? - [James] Yeah.
Woo-hoo!
It does work.
It works.
[laughs] It works.
This thing is not built for comfort.
This is a rough ride.
It'll rattle the fillings
out of your teeth if you have 'em.
It feels good to me.
- Good job y'all. - [Paul] Hell, yeah.
[narrator] In a race against Mother Nature,
the crew split up.
Dustin in the dozer
will plow the snow up the Tsirku River
to clear a path for the old truck,
while the rest of the crew packs the container
with their vital gold mining equipment.
- [Paul] I'm gonna drive to Devil's Elbow. - [Dustin] All right.
Well, we'll get this thing hooked up
and see if we can meet you out there.
[Dustin] All right.
You a bit nervous?
We as might as well talk about time travel, man.
That seems... that seems a little bit more feasible, man.
[bleep].
[Dustin] All right. Everybody knows what to do?
- [all] Yup. - [Paul] All right.
Let's go to it.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Dustin] Man, the things we do to go out here and find gold.
[narrator] Six miles up the Tsirku River...
Dustin Hurt plows a path
to his new Nugget Creek claim.
[Scott] Man, this snow is deep out here.
[narrator] While crew member Scott Allen, scouts ahead
to find a route clear of hidden deadly deep water.
[Scott] That's three crossings.
Seems like there's gotta be a point one spot
where we can cross just once.
I'm thinking this is gonna be it.
[Dustin] Everybody keeps telling me how crazy I am.
I'm gonna die out here.
Oh! Here I am.
I'm committed and not backing down.
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] But Dustin is facing a big problem,
high spring temperatures are melting the snowpack.
The path to his new claim will soon be cut off.
[Dustin] So, right now I'm feeling kind of a panic.
I need a road.
I need all my gear and I'm feeling it.
Really feeling it.
I'm trying to calm down so I don't make
any dumb mistakes,
but truth is
I'm starting to race against the clock right now.
One of the problems of having this
I don't know what the problem looks like.
I don't know what's here.
Just don't know.
Oh! No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I broke it!
[bleep].
[Scott] What happened?
[Dustin] I hit a root.
There's a stump right there. I didn't know it was there.
I don't have any time for this.
Look, it's bitten.
[Scott] Coming out bad.
[Dustin] There she is. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
[bleep].
Wow.
I never seen one blow like that.
I'm never... Once, ever seen one
blow like that.
[narrator] The hydraulic line blown.
They'll have to go back to Haines for a spare.
Their day is over.
[Dustin] Yeah, that was my fault.
Piss poor driving.
[sighs]
Couldn't push little snow, could you boy?
I feel like an idiot.
I can't believe I just did that.
I broke a dozer...
in snow of all things.
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] Two days later...
That is where we blew out right there.
That is incredible.
[narrator] And a 60-mile trip for parts...
[Dustin] We had a special-made hose.
It's not the original part but hopefully,
all we have to do is plug this in and go.
Done.
This might just work.
[dozer engine revving]
Not leaking yet,
but I got warm it up, you gotta have to test
the hydraulics, you're gonna move it.
I think we're good.
She's good to go.
The forecast says that it's going to be hot
and sunny for the next week
which means all these white stuffs goes away
and goes into that river right there,
which that river comes up several feet
and we can't drive it.
So we have to get all of our gear here
as soon as possible.
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] At Porcupine Creek...
That's about as much stuff as we're gonna need
and hope for the season. I mean, we've got dredges.
We've got our generators. We've got cable.
Everything but the kitchen sink,
but we'll figure that out when we get there.
[Kayla] We at least got toilet paper.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Well, let's lock this thing down and get out of here.
[narrator] The whole gold mining operation
packed in the container.
- [Paul] Good luck. - [Wes] All right.
[narrator] Dustin's crew travel nine miles
down to the river entrance.
[dramatic music playing]
This is definitely not what we're used to doing.
Nothing like having to pack up and move.
I hate moving.
Oh, my [bleep] here.
[laughs] We got to cross that [bleep].
Yeah, I don't know about that.
[narrator] At the downstream entry
on the Tsirku River,
the snow has already thawed
and the water is rising rapidly.
All right. I'm gonna try it out in low gear
- and see how this goes. - All right, Paul, good to go.
Go ahead and send it, man. Bring it.
Come on, baby. Come on, baby.
Push through it. Push through it. Push through it.
[bleep].
Come on, baby. Come on, baby.
A little more. A little more.
A little more. Give it. Don't give up. Keep going.
[Paul] Move. Move. Move.
- [Scott] Ha-ha. Yeah! - [Paul] Yeah!
- [Paul] We did it. - [Scott] Yeah!
[Paul] Oh, my [bleep]. I was so worried
about part right there.
[Wes] We get past that. I think we got it now.
That was a big concern.
If it'll... If it'll go through this
we'll make it the whole way.
[Scott] You're damn right. We will.
[Paul] Hey, I told you I was gonna Dukes of Hazard it.
Go for it buddy.
[horn honks]
[dramatic music playing]
I never ever thought I'd be off-roading
a big ass army truck.
- [Kayla] With the CONEX. - [Paul] With the CONEX.
[laughs]
[Dustin] These water crossings might
be kind of crazy y'all.
On the right here there was barely any water
with that yesterday.
[Paul] Wow!
[Kayla] Hey, Scott, don't be scared of the gas pedal.
[Paul laughs]
James, step on it.
I think the biggest struggle right now
is that sand really wants to put a lot of pull on you
when you're trying to pull the trailer through it.
Stay right, stay right. Come right, come right,
come right.
[Kayla] Pull right.
[Paul] Here we go.
Woo-hoo. Come on, don't stop now.
Yeah. Don't get stuck in the mud.
She is struggling.
Oh, [bleep].
[Paul] One just came completely off.
- What? - Uh, we might be stuck.
[Wes] Yeah, you're buried. There's no more tires left.
- [Kayla] I think we're stuck. - [Paul] I think we're stuck.
[Kayla] Can you back up?
[Paul] I don't know what we're stuck on.
[James] I have to get out and go look and see what's going on.
[Wes] Yeah. You're buried. There's no more tires left.
[narrator] On the Tsirku River,
rapid snow melt has turned the riverbed into quicksand
sucking down the trailer and stopping it dead.
Dustin, you got a copy? Dustin, you got a copy?
Wes for Dustin.
[Dustin] Hey, go ahead, man.
We've got CONEX buried. If is there any way
you can work your way downstream and maybe help us
pull this thing out or pull the CONEX itself?
[Dustin] Are you kidding me?
[screams] [bleep].
Yeah, I'll come back.
Okay. Copy that. Wes out.
[narrator] Their journey along the Tsirku
to their new claim at Nugget Creek
is nine miles.
The truck and container managed barely one.
I wouldn't even call this a crossing.
There's no like current to that.
[narrator] Dustin spent his last dime hoping
Nugget Creek would pay out big.
[Paul] I see Dustin.
[James] He's not gonna be happy.
[narrator] If he can't get the container
with all his gear to the claim,
he's dead in the water.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Paul] It was going good until I came across
this crossing right here.
[James] Well, once we lost those tires
is when [bleep] went bad.
[Paul] Well, I mean that all happened right here.
[Dustin] All right, all right.
Just let me... Let me just think for a sec.
Well, I just spent all night and all day plowing snow
that doesn't look like we'll even reach.
This shouldn't have been a [bleep] problem.
The rest of it's going to be a problem.
- [Paul] Yeah. - [Dustin] You guys made
about a half a mile?
[Paul] No, we're probably further than that.
I don't know.
[Wes] I'd say a mile or so.
This is hard to take right now looking
over there and seeing my trailer half underground.
[sighs]
What I'm worried about most is the water
coming up and taking everything from me.
I'm trying to beat it but it's not working out.
[screams]
I'm trying to un-destroy this mess right now.
[Wes] Pushing the whole thing.
Holy crap.
That's probably a good right there.
[Dustin] Okay.
Dude.
Not the way I thought this was gonna go.
Woo.
It's a rough one.
I thought this was gonna be the easy part.
[intense music playing]
[Carlos] Yup. Dig it out a little bit more.
[Paul] Uh, just a little bit on that one.
That's mangled for sure.
That rim and tire is totally gone.
[narrator] Dustin Hurt's hunt
to find the greatest gold of his life
has led him to buy a new claim,
Nugget Creek,
nine miles up the Tsirku River.
Only one mile in... the container that holds
all their crucial gold mining equipment
is stranded.
Hey, man, this can't be happening.
- [Dustin] The tires are not... - [Wes] Okay.
gonna work. We figured this out, right?
- Yup. - What I'd like to do,
I'd like to find two logs
to go underneath the axles and lash them off
and make a sled out of this thing.
[narrator] Dustin's plan...
attach logs under the trailer,
creating a two ton sled.
Pulled by the dozer, the sled should rise
above the riverbed's sinking sand,
delivering their crucial gear,
so they can dive for Nugget Creek gold.
[instrumental music playing]
[Dustin] This is the first time I've ever done this,
so this would be experimental for me.
I don't know if it'll work but we're getting desperate.
So what we did was we found the ledge
and now we're gonna jam two logs or trees
right in here
and we're gonna back this thing
over the top of them and hopefully...
we can make sleds out of these logs.
[instrumental music playing]
- [man laughs] - [bleep] Beautiful.
There's 20,000 pounds of anchor for you.
- [Dustin] All right? - [Paul] All right.
- [Dustin] We're doing this? - Yeah, let's do it.
[laughs]
He's building the Ark, dude.
[laughs]
Are you ready?
[instrumental music playing]
[Wes] All good over here.
Come in, come in.
Let's go. And bring it, bring it, bring it,
bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it,
bring it, bring it [bleep],
bring it, bring it, bring it...
You guys are good in here.
[Wes] Bring it, bring it, bring it.
Bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, come on.
Bring it, bring it, bring it.
Bring it.
That's good, that's good right there.
[Wes laughs]
[Paul] Are you serious?
[Wes] Holy crap.
Can you believe?
[Dustin] Well, all we got is straps, cables,
and some chain.
Let's make the best of it.
Carlos, I think we're ready to hook this thing up
to the dozer and drag it, man.
[Paul] You ready for this?
Yeah.
Uh...
I'm just praying, brother. I'm not thinking anything.
I'm just praying, bro.
Just praying.
Get to the [bleep] site, man.
We got to pay some bills, dude.
Here we go.
[Paul] Move it!
It's working.
[instrumental music playing]
[Paul] This [bleep] working great, man.
[narrator] The sled fix a success.
It's working, man. It's gonna do it.
Woo-hoo!
[narrator] The next challenge for Dustin,
the rising Tsirku River's two deepest crossings.
Yeah, that's pretty [bleep] deep.
That's deep, man.
I think we're in trouble here.
- [Carlos] Oh, man. - [Dustin] Look at that creek that goes...
- Oh. Going all diagonal? - Maybe I can get up that.
You can probably cross in better spots.
I'm trying not to hit any ledges.
Oh, I gotcha.
This thing is getting uglier and uglier
- every day, huh? - Oh, yeah, it's getting bad.
That water has come up a lot.
And this is going to be a challenge.
We don't wanna get anything stuck right now.
That's our entire season right there.
[Dustin] All right.
Let's see how the logs do.
[Carlos laughs]
[bleep] you're crazy dude.
[Dustin] Let's go.
[Carlos chuckles]
[Dustin] It's doing it, Carlos.
[Paul] It's perfect.
[Dustin] Find me a [bleep] road.
[Carlos] What's that?
Oh, [bleep].
[Carlos] Hey, what's that?
[Dustin] How are we doing?
- Deep? - [Carlos] Oh, [bleep].
[Carlos] [bleep].
[bleep].
Oh, boy. It' not doing it.
Hold on, hold on.
Hold on.
[Carlos laughs]
[narrator] After an epic eight-hour journey
hauling the sled over seven miles,
Nugget Creek is within sight.
[Paul] You burst.
[laughs]
[Carlos] This crossing...
looks like it has to be the worst.
The widest, the deepest.
the finish line is literally right there,
right freaking there.
It's gonna be deep but it's not as deep as this.
[Carlos] This is freaking deep as hell right.
The temperature dropped this far upstream
because of the freaking, uh,
glaciers, the snow.
We still got snow on this side.
It looks really deep.
[laughs]
Come save me.
Please come save me
if I get stuck out there.
[dramatic music playing]
I don't know what I'm doing.
And it tipped the [bleep] box.
Bad things are happening.
I'm in trouble.
I bit off more than I can chew,
we're about to stall.
[bleep].
Wide open [bleep].
[bleep] Carlos.
Please don't flip.
[water bubbling]
[Dustin] [bleep] Carlos.
Please don't flip.
Come on, baby.
Don't flip, don't flip.
[narrator] Just one mile short of their final destination,
Dustin may have pushed it too far.
Come on, baby.
Oh my [bleep] God.
Did that just happen?
Woo-hoo!
You one crazy [bleep].
[Carlos] Hey, hey, look.
[Dustin laughs]
That was insane.
That was fantastic.
Woo.
We're rolling.
Never gonna forget this [bleep] man.
[laughs]
Yeah, baby.
[Carlos] Yes.
[narrator] The melting Tsirku River
tested the crew to the limit.
[Dustin] Oh [bleep] what a rush.
[narrator] But they finally reached their new claim
at Nugget Creek.
[Carlos laughs]
It's so [bleep] awesome.
[Narrator] And the possibility...
of life-changing gold.
[dramatic music playing]
We made it, Carlos.
- [Carlos] Woo. - [Wes] Yeah.
[James] Yeah.
[Carlos laughs]
[Carlos] We did it!
Woo!
- [Dustin] Woo! - [Paul] Finally!
[Carlos] Now get it.
[horn honking]
[Dustin] Yeah.
[horn honking]
[laughter]
[Wes] Holy crap, dude.
I can't believe we freaking made it, man.
[Dustin] That is something.
[Wes] Let's not do that again.
[James] Of course I had my doubts.
I don't care... I don't care what you say.
I don't care. I had my [bleep] doubts.
I had my... I had big doubt.
That's the longest nine miles in the world.
- That was only nine miles? - [Dustin] Yeah.
- [Paul] We made it. - We think this is bad.
Imagine how they felt on the Oregon Trail.
- The wagons. - [James] Those guys
are so much tougher than me.
We just did nine miles.
They did thousands.
What a hell of a journey y'all.
[James] If that worked,
then we got freaking gold coming our way, man.
And we put in the freaking effort
and the work for this.
New site, bigger gold.
It's gonna be hard to get to but we're here.
Everything's here.
We're ready to get started finally.
- [Paul] We'll get there. - [Dustin] Yeah.
Yeah. Now let's just go find a place
and then start our camp,
so we can start living out here.
But it better be some damn good gold here.
[narrator] On the season ahead.
[Wes] There's a bear.
[man] We're in bear territory.
[Dustin] That is moving right there.
[Paul] Yeah, it is.
This is scary.
[Dustin] Well, that'll kill you.
[Paul] Hold on, hold on.
[man] Rock, rock, rock, rock!
- [Paul] Watch out. - Two rules out here.
- Don't get hurt, don't die. - [Wes] Our gold
- is underneath that snow. - [Paul] Oh.
[Dustin] It's not safe out here.
[Paul] We need to get out of here.
- Dustin! - What?
I've got some gold, man.
That's good gold, dawg.
I think this is the crew that can do it.