Gold Rush: Parker's Trail (2017) s01e03 Episode Script

Yeah!
Another mile closer to dawson.
Being on the water Is dangerous.
Out here, One wrong move,
And you're a dead man.
I don't really like
What I'm seeing.
Do you guys want to try to
Pull in just past this part?
Yeah, there's a spot
Right up there.
- This is not good.
- This ice is sketchy.
You get sucked under the ice,
They never find your body.
It's right right here.
Got it?
Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Watch your step.
We're getting kind
Of pulled upstream.
Whoa, parker!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
My.
In march 2016,
Parker's grandpa,
John schnabel, passed away.
He came to alaska with nothing.
He had 100 bucks in his pocket.
And bought a steamship ticket
Up to haines.
Goodbye.
I miss him.
He taught me a huge amount.
I'm proud of you, Parker.
What I have gone through
Is nothing.
Compared to what he went through
To be successful.
This is a tribute to him.
To honor
His gold-mining grandfather,
Parker is attempting to retrace
The legendary klondike trail.
Just 40 years
Before john schnabel.
Came to the gold fields,
100,000 people
Risked their lives.
Racing north
On the last great gold rush.
70,000 never made it.
Now, parker and three friends
Want to see.
If they can measure up
To the pioneers.
We might get By this stuff.
But because parker was
Gold mining into the fall,
They're going at
The worst possible time.
That ice is bad.
Lack of food is bad.
It's not good.
The big freeze threatens.
To slam shut The route north.
And the struggle
With food and cold
No, we are not going anywhere
Near that bank, dude.
No way.
Will test their friendship
To the breaking point.
You know me well enough to know
I'm not going to relax.
That's one thing I don't do.
It's going to be damn tough,
And we have a long ways to go.
Captions by vitac
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications.
Push hard, boys.
Parker and his friends.
Are 20 days into
Their grueling trek north.
They're attempting
To cross a wilderness.
Full of hostile predators,
Where temperatures drop
As low as minus-81 degrees.
That wind Is so cold.
Yep. How are your feet?
Cold as So are mine.
Yep.
I should've worn more socks.
We need to shoot some beavers And
wrap our feet In their pelts.
Sounds good.
What do you think
Of our chances, karla?
James, put down
Your camera and paddle.
We got to make
Some miles, big-time.
It'll get colder
Pretty quick here.
So it's time to put
The paddles in the water.
Twenty days ago, they set out.
From parker's home
In haines, alaska.
They've survived 225 miles
Of mountains, lakes, and rivers.
And made it as far north
As lake laberge.
Their goal
Another 375 miles north.
Is dawson city In the klondike,
Where they plan to find gold
And stake a claim.
But the temperature
Is dropping fast,
And the winter freeze
Could stop them at any time.
We just got To keep paddling.
Yep. Paddle hard. Paddle hard.
To have any chance
Of reaching dawson city,
They need to make a solid
40 miles each and every day.
It turns up to the right
A wee bit, guys.
We can head that way,
But it doesn't really
Save you anything.
Have you spent much time
Rowing on rivers?
I've spent a lot of time
On rivers, yeah.
Yeah, rowing and actually
Relying on the current?
It's just that
Sticking in the current,
Long-term, is faster.
Yeah, I understand that.
But what I'm saying is that
It's going straight this way,
So by us heading that way,
It doesn't really
Get us anywhere.
Yeah, so we've actually got
Ourselves out of the current,
Whereas we want to stay
In the current the whole time.
But you just said,
"Current is over there."
Yeah, because We're not in it.
We need to be trying to
Stay in it all the time.
For sake. It makes sense.
No, it doesn't.
Why do you feel
You have to contradict me.
Or ridicule Everything I say?
Wow, you're such
An interesting character.
Shut the up, james.
I'm cold. I'm tired. I'm hungry.
And I don't need this
Parker reminds me of me
When I was 20.
That's what's terrifying.
Very quick to react
And aggressive.
Is it just me,
Or is it getting colder?
It's just you, I think.
Nope, it's not just me.
Ice.
Holy I don't like it.
Look at the size
Of those ice sheets.
Yeah, I mean,
This is the first time.
We've really seen
Serious ice on the yukon,
And there's a lot of it.
That's not good.
The temperature has dropped
2 degrees in four hours,
And today, they've only
Traveled 13 miles,
But the light Is fading fast.
We've got to camp
Somewhere tonight.
Yeah, I mean, we have to find
A place before dark.
Yeah. That's for damn sure.
Okay, boys,
Let's pick a good spot.
Let's head to shore.
As well as needing
To make camp before nightfall,
It's been 24 hours.
Since they've had A proper meal.
Their available protein sources.
Include grayling, rabbits,
Ducks, and grouse.
I don't like the look
Of that ice at all.
Well, I just want
To get to the shore,
So let's do it.
Okay, we're going to need
Some momentum.
Let's try to charge through this
And see how it goes.
Ooh.
Whoa.
Get in the thicker stuff, And
Whoa!
How solid is it?
I don't know.
I'm not real comfortable
In this.
- This is mental.
- No way, dude.
- Careful.
- That's dangerous.
Just be careful, mate.
- Parker!
- I'm fine.
If you fall in this water,
You're screwed.
Yeah watch it.
It's pretty thick.
James, maybe if you ice ax
On your left side,
And we could kind of
Pull the boat along?
Yeah.
This is horse.
Got it?
Yeah.
My.
That hurt.
Just come over here, James.
Watch those ice axes.
Yeah.
Me.
That's a lot of ice
Built up on shore
A lot, a lot of ice.
What do they call that,
Shelf ice?
Shelf ice, yeah.
That ain't good. No.
That's dangerous.
We need some food, Though.
So we're going hunting Or what?
Yeah. Okay. Good luck.
At this temperature,
They each need 4,000 calories
A day to sustain paddling.
We're in some serious.
This ice is bad,
We're hungry all the time,
And we're nowhere
Near as far north.
As we need to be.
Any luck?
No. Couldn't find anything.
This is really Bad news, man.
Yeah, this is bad.
Lack of food is bad.
But
I don't like that,
The amount of ice around here.
If the ice is this bad here,
The hell are we
- Yeah, yeah. I know.
- It's going to get worse.
We might get By this stuff.
Relax. You know me well enough.
To know I'm not going To relax.
Okay, well let's
That's one thing I don't do.
All right.
Why are you getting so angry?
I'm fed up, actually.
I'm really fed up.
You know, parker brought me
Along to film this thing,
And all he ever does Is give me.
And I don't know
If I can take it much more.
We're headed towards the ice,
That's for sure.
I mean, we learned that today.
We make a mistake on that,
And you're dead pretty quick.
That's the
Nightmares are made of,
And I don't want anything
To do with it.
That shelf ice
Is pretty sketchy.
If you fall through that,
You're a dead man.
I don't want to die out here,
So, I don't know.
It's just getting
Colder and colder,
And I'm tired and hungry.
I think I really
Underestimated the challenge.
That we've got here
Trying to find gold.
If this weather keeps
Getting colder like this,
It really jeopardizes
Everything.
We're bucking the odds here.
We got to find a spot
Where we can get out.
Up ahead
No, we are not going anywhere
Near that bank, dude.
No way.
How about the other bank, then?
That's a bunch Of shelf ice.
Then what about the other bank?
No, dude.
The current is ripping
Under the shelf ice.
We're not going near
Any of the bank.
Parker, get up. We've got to
Pull this tent down, dude.
Working on it.
I need my beauty sleep.
Parker, get up.
Parker just sucks
At getting up on time.
It's cold out here.
Parker schnabel And his friends.
Are honoring his grandpa.
By attempting the
Legendary klondike trail.
The bottom of our tent
Is pretty stiff.
Poles are frozen.
Yeah, they've been
Freezing up at night.
Definitely getting cold.
We still got a lot
Of miles to make.
Because the mining season
Only ended a few weeks ago,
They're having to
Attempt the journey.
At the most dangerous time
Of year.
Food is scarce,
And temperatures
Are dropping fast.
Last night, they hit shelf ice,
And the yukon river
Is about to freeze over.
All right.
Guys, I'm changing the plan.
I'm really worried
We're not going to make it.
To dawson before the freeze,
So we're going to start
Prospecting ahead of schedule.
This is something
I know a little bit about
Finding gold.
Boom. Let's do it.
Parker and his crew are already
Approaching gold country.
So this is where
We're hoping to get today.
Yeah. So where that creek comes
In, that's called cape horn.
That might be a good first spot
To stop and check out.
I mean, when we get there,
Obviously,
This ground is all frozen.
So trying to sample it
Is going to be tough.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're going to have to
Get a little more creative.
Over the last 20 days,
They've covered
A total of 238 miles.
On the klondike trail.
Their next destination
An area known as cape horn.
From this point on,
There are gold-bearing creeks.
Feeding into the yukon river.
Parker, paddle harder.
Cape horn, here we come.
Some cape horn gold!
Is this it?
I don't know.
I think that is cape horn.
We're in gold country.
We're renewed.
Yeah. Whoo!
What I'd really like
To find is a feeder creek.
That we can stake, you know,
But the first step.
Is to find a pan
Full of gold somewhere.
Yeah, I mean, this looks like
An old river channel.
We could try it out. Really?
This might be a good
Fishing spot, too, actually.
I'm gold mining now,
Not fishing.
Let's try a first pan of dirt.
Really? Right there?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Pull in on that
Beach right there.
Are we doing it?
We got to paddle hard, then.
Hard into that beach, please.
What's that?
Hard into that beach.
Why don't you pick up
A paddle, then?
Because I'm filming about
What's going to happen, parker.
You know how it works.
For sake.
Wow.
Time to use this for something
Other than.
Holding grouse meat and trash.
Let's see if we can
Find some dirt.
That's a good low spot
You're standing in, rick.
Finding an unstaked gold claim.
Is a key part
Of parker's mission.
To relive the pioneers' trail.
So, we sink the first pick.
That looked badass.
There's some
Nice-sized boulders.
That's a good sign.
This is definitely
An old creek channel.
There's some
Good dirt down there.
Okay.
All right.
I like this spot.
Rick, want to stay here
And fish with me?
I'm going to stay and fish.
I'm starving.
Me too.
You think parker seems
Quite stressed out?
Yeah.
Parker has a tough time
Dealing with people.
James is definitely
Getting under his skin a bit.
Yeah! Hello!
First cast?
Yeah.
What is that, A grayling?
Grayling. Yes!
Fresh fish tonight, boy!
Sorry, bud. You're dinner.
That's a nice-sized one.
I'm usually not very careful
When I'm panning,
But I'm being
A little more careful now.
Got another one! Boys!
Get it on the beach!
Good work, karla!
How many we got now?
I don't know, six or seven.
Be eating good tonight.
Those are big graylings.
Any gold yet?
No.
Working on it.
The crew will finally eat,
But parker needs to find gold
And stake a claim.
Holy
what?
There's a flake of gold.
You're kidding me.
Nope. Right there.
Holy.
Whoa!
First pan right here.
What?! Are you sure?
I've got to go show rick.
What are you Smiling about?
Dude, we've got gold.
Shut the up.
No way.
It's not very much.
But first pan Right off the top.
Where's that little.
There it is. There it is. Yep.
Yep, that's him.
No.
My.
Wow.
Gold.
There you go.
That's awesome.
Okay, so I have to
Think about this.
I want to do A better sample.
I think we should build
A little sluice box.
Maybe even make it
A bit of a rocker.
Like, that way,
You need less water.
Like the old-style rocker boxes.
They have a handle.
And you're good
At this kind of stuff.
120 years ago,
The rocker box was the pioneers'
High-tech solution.
To separating gold
From pay dirt.
It's a sluice box with a series
Of riffles or ridges.
Water washes the pay dirt
Over the riffles.
The mud washes out
As it's rocked,
And any gold should settle
In the fabric at the bottom.
It's the beginnings
Of a sluice box.
I've never built a sluice box.
How hard could it be?
I'll let rick do this.
I can't cut straight
To save my life.
So, it's going To be our base.
That's going to be our base?
Yeah.
Cut in half,
And that way, it can rock.
Got to start off slow.
We got our bases.
Could be the bottom
Of our sluice box.
This is our spare paddle.
I was thinking we could
Cut this into four sections.
For legs for this,
And then we could even
Make riffles, probably.
Yeah.
Measure once. Cut three times.
So, here's all I got For nails.
We don't have a lot
To work with here.
The rocker is going
To look ridiculous,
But hopefully, it works.
That's our matting
For our sluice box.
This poor shirt.
We all make sacrifices.
100 years ago,
They were building sluice boxes.
Just like this with scraps,
And, you know,
They didn't have
A saw this nice.
So, if they could do it.
And make their fortunes,
We can slap one together.
And find at least
Some college gold.
One rocking sluice box.
First scoop.
Let it rock.
She's holding together.
Do you feel like
An old-timer yet?
I feel ancient.
This reminds me Of big nugget,
Before my grandpa stopped
Running the place so much.
He had a part of the wash plant
That you had to, like,
Do it all by hand. Really?
Yeah, that's what
They did every day.
Well, what did your grandpa
Used to say?
"Nothing ventured,
Nothing gained."
I'm pretty confident
In our little box here, though.
If there's gold here,
We'll find it.
Yeah.
What are we hoping for?
I mean, I'd really like to see,
You know, 10 colors out of this.
The 10 flakes Is worth claiming?
I would say so.
All right.
I'm going to go pan this.
God.
I'm going to be right here
bricks.
I hope there's some gold
In this thing.
It's been a long trip
To get here.
I can't tell you how
Nervous I am right now.
Parker and his friends
Are honoring his grandpa.
By retracing the original
600-mile gold rush trail.
Like the pioneers
That came before them,
Their goal is
To arrive in dawson.
And to stake a claim.
After 5 hours prospecting,
They're about to find out.
If they've struck
Gold-rich ground.
We've fought a long battle
Just to get here.
You know what I mean?
And it'd be nice
To see this work out.
Well, we didn't improve much.
Three flakes.
Wow.
There's one, two, three.
Bummer.
Actually, there's quite a bit
More in here than I thought.
There's the four.
Yeah.
There's another one. Yes!
There's one right there,
And there's one right up there.
And there's two Right there.
See them? Yeah.
There might be
10 colors in here yet.
Are you serious? Yeah.
And there's a couple more.
There's probably
A dozen colors in there.
No.
You're impressed, Rick, clearly.
I mean, you've seen
What we just did.
We threw some shovelfuls Of dirt.
Through a load of twigs
And a sweater.
And a paddle. And a paddle!
Yeah. An old cut-up paddle.
And there's a pan full of gold.
Yeah, I mean, this isn't
The mother lode,
But we found it just like
The old-timers.
Dude. Let's find some posts.
And stake our claim. All right.
Let's do it.
The rules
For staking a claim in the yukon.
Are the same
As they were in 1897.
It needs a name
And a pair of boundary posts.
So other prospectors know
It's off-limits.
There was no posts around,
So let's do it.
My grandpa would've been
Right here,
Had he been my age with us.
Yeah. You know?
He would've loved This.
Yeah, he would've loved this.
What are we naming the claim?
I don't know.
Let's not overthink this.
What is your grandpa john's
Boat's name?
The excuse me. Excuse me.
No.
Perseverance?
Perseverance.
That was the name
Of your grandpa's boat, right?
Yeah.
That'd be cool.
Yeah, let's do it.
- Took a lot of that to get here.
- He'd be honored.
I'm honored. Let's do that.
You have it tattooed
On your hand, don't you?
You're damn right, I do.
There's the spelling.
I'll let you write it. Sweet.
Perseverance.
That's pretty cool.
Just months after
John schnabel passed,
Rick also lost a grandfather.
Do you think he'd be proud
Of what you've achieved so far?
I think He'd be proud.
Yeah?
I mean, this was
One hell of a journey.
My grandpa had a lot of great
Feats in his life.
That was the name of his
Last boat, was the perseverance.
It was a 50-foot troller.
He built it in his 70s
Really?
Because he couldn't find
A boat that he liked,
So it's named The perseverance.
Because that's what it took him
To get there, really.
That's what I remember
About him.
Beautiful.
This is the first claim
I've ever staked.
It's pretty cool that you can
Still do this, you know?
This is the same exact way
They did it 120 years ago.
My grandpa would've loved it.
Yeah.
Too bad he's not
Around to see us do it.
We staked claim, boys. Whoo!
Yeah.
Piece of paradise
Here in the yukon.
Now we've got to get
To dawson and record it.
But tonight, they celebrate.
With the seven grayling
Karla caught.
What's for dinner, rick? Fish.
Welcome to karla's
Outdoor cooking show.
Hello, everyone.
Wow, does that fish Look good.
I think we need the fat
To power up for our future.
Thank you for not
Letting us starve.
You're welcome.
So, we found gold today,
And that's the uplift
That we all really needed.
I'm really glad
That we named the claim.
After rick's grandpa's boat.
You know, he's lost a grandpa
Just like me,
So that's tough for both of us.
And I think that this trip
And this day.
And everything
That we've gone through.
And everything that
We've gone through together.
Means a lot to both of us.
The part of today that kind of
Really stuck out for me was,
You know, I threw out the name
"Perseverance" for the claim.
And parker kind of jumped
At that and agreed to it.
And he knows what
That means to me.
That's my grandpa, basically.
It really actually meant
A lot more than I let on,
And I think everybody wants
To make their family proud,
And I do, as well.
And I hope carrying that out
Here on this journey with me,
You know, makes him proud,
Because I'm proud
To carry it with me.
Anyways, love you, family.
And from the middle of
Effing nowhere in the yukon,
I know you think I'm crazy.
Love you guys. Good night.
How far Do we have to paddle?
Far. -Yeah, we've got
Some miles to make.
It's getting Cold out here.
Can't wait to do this All day.
This snow is bumming me out,
Man.
Not quite how I imagined it.
To reach dawson On schedule
Damn, we're hauling ass
Through this current.
Parker and his crew still
Need to average 40 miles a day.
What's the story Right now?
Well, I'm a little worried
About getting to dawson.
Staking a claim
Doesn't mean anything.
Unless you get
To the mining recorder office.
And record it.
The crew's paddled 150 miles.
In the last 4 days,
Taking them almost
As far as minto.
But they still have
Another 200 miles of yukon river.
Before they reach
Their destination,
Dawson city.
And the temperature
Is dropping daily.
Boy. Whoa.
I don't really like
What I'm seeing.
This is ugly.
This is, like,
Freezing up proper.
Just keep moving is the most,
Probably, important thing.
Well, I'll try,
But my paddle is hitting ice.
Karla, have you ever been
In anything like this before?
This is crazy.
No, I don't travel.
During this time of the year
In the river.
I don't think anybody does.
No one does.
It's like trying
To paddle through concrete.
We're pretty
Jammed up in it, now.
We're not making miles in this,
That's for sure.
All you can do is drift with it.
We sure as ain't
Floating to dawson like this.
And it's only going
To get worse.
I mean, my big concern Is we
can't be In the darkness.
And there's only, what,
Six hours of daylight now?
Yeah. Yeah.
That's when this starts getting
Really dangerous.
All right.
Well, we've got to find a spot.
Where we can get out
Because this is bull.
No, we are not going anywhere
Near that bank, dude.
No way.
How about the other bank, then?
That's a bunch Of shelf ice.
We're not going there.
Then what about the other bank?
No, dude.
The current is ripping
Under the shelf ice.
We're not going anywhere
Near any of the banks.
Well, we need to get out
Of this one way or another.
Yeah, dude, I get that.
But we're going to
Find a better spot.
When you're freaking
Out, stupid decisions get made.
Yeah, and if we're on that
When that breaks off,
You're going in the
Drink with a concussion.
Yeah.
That's some serious Hypothermia.
This is how you die
And they never find your body.
Yeah.
All right, well,
Then we got to continue on.
Until we find a spot
Because this is bull
I don't like it.
Just as they always feared,
The river is freezing
Around them.
A big chunk of ice Coming up.
They're forced to drift
With the current.
Until they can find
A safe place to land.
Do you guys want to try to
Pull in just past this part?
Yeah, there's a spot
Right up there.
That'll work. All right.
Easy, james.
Yeah, that's.
It's pretty solid,
So we could probably do it.
You think so? Yeah, just here.
I'll bring her around.
I don't know.
Get your paddle.
Just right here. You got her?
Yeah, yeah. My god.
We're kind of getting
Pulled downstream.
Parker, whoa!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
You got her? Yeah. Yeah.
We're kind of getting
Pulled downstream.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Dude, get to shore!
Get to shore.
Parker, get to shore. Hold on!
Guys, get up there.
Holy
James, get him up there.
The freezing water
Is cold enough.
To cause fatal hypothermia.
Rick, get on that side.
Yeah, I'm working it.
They have just 15 minutes
To get parker warm.
Can you at least Get your clothes off?
Ditch your gear, dude.
I don't want to take
My clothes off.
Yeah, you have to.
We're getting you in warm,
Dry clothes.
In his wet clothes,
He's losing heat five times
Faster than normal.
Rick, fire asap, Hot water.
This wood Is.
Ditch all your gear.
Can you feel your hands?
Not really.
I can't get this thing off.
Lack of coordination
And confusion.
Are signs that his core body
Temperature is plummeting.
I can't feel my feet at all.
Yeah, dude, got to
Get those pants off.
Rick, fire. You guys,
We've got like 5 minutes.
This wood Is garbage.
Shoes off.
Do you guys have extra shoes?
They're right in the canoe.
Yeah, I'll go grab them.
It's so cold,
My lighter won't work.
James, I need some
Different fire starter.
- Coming.
- Your camera,
Just grab some Fire starter.
Fire is crucial right now.
Grab this.
You take care of that.
I'll go get some more dry stuff.
All right?
I can't feel my feet
Or my ankles.
- Here.
- It's cold.
Get into that.
Yep, do her up.
Okay. That's taking off now.
Okay. Feed him That warm water.
Do you feel warmer?
My feet Are still icicles,
But the rest of me
Is warming up.
You sure? Yeah.
I'm sorry That happened.
That was dumb.
Pretty damn close call.
When you popped up
Out of that water,
You looked like you
Didn't know what happened.
I didn't know what happened.
I was looking at your paddle.
Because I saw your paddle
In the water.
It must've fell out the boat.
It was in the water for sure.
So we only have Three paddles.
I don't know,
It's just getting sketchy.
Do you guys Not think that?
We've been floating
Down the river.
With chunks of ice
For a while now,
And I think today,
We got a free warning,
All right?
Because that could've been
A lot worse.
120 years ago,
We wouldn't have had any choice.
But to push off
Back in the water,
And a lot of
The old-timers died.
Yeah.
Yeah. Huge number of them died.
So, whatever there is left
To prove ain't worth dying for.
All right?
This.
Who's got the sat phone?
Parker calls for help.
On the production's
Emergency phone.
Yeah.
We're having to
Pull out of the river.
Yeah, I know it's a bummer.
All right. Thanks. Bye.
We have to deal with
These canoes, though, too.
Basically, today is the end
Of our river trip.
Yeah, it's a tough decision,
Not really one
That came easily for me.
I'm definitely
Pretty goal-oriented,
And so it's a bit of a bummer.
Yeah. Let's just get her apart.
But, you know,
We're still getting to dawson.
We're still going
To make it there.
Just not on the river anymore.
Because we can't have
Somebody getting hurt.
Watch out! Could've been worse.
You know, I'm pretty thankful.
That parker made the call
To pull out.
It's getting unsafe.
That's kind of the bottom line.
And that's how
You winterize a canoe.
Perfect. We'll pick them up
In the spring.
On our way to work, rick.
Yeah, buddy.
Goodbye, yukon river.
I mean, there's a little bit
Of sadness there.
You know, we're not going To make it
all the way to Dawson in the canoes,
But I'm not going to
Let that bum me out.
About what we actually
Did get done,
Which is something, "A,"
I never thought that I would do.
And, "B,".
Something that I never
Thought I could do.
It's a 2-mile hike
To a small airstrip.
Where parker's called in
A ski-plane.
Well, it's just got to
Be up here somewhere.
Well, I'm no pilot,
But this looks like
An airstrip to me.
The weather looks good.
Hopefully, it'll be
Able to drop in here.
Light the flares.
Plane!
That is sweet.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah!
There's our ride!
Hell yeah.
After nearly a month
On the original gold rush trail,
Parker and his friends
Have been forced.
To abandon
The frozen yukon river.
All I'm seeing down there
Is a ton of ice, man.
It's nasty.
I'm sure as hell glad we're not
Down there in boats right now.
No, we got out At a good time.
We're in dawson city.
We're alive. Yeah.
Whoo!
Parker and his crew have
Finally arrived in dawson city,
The heart of the klondike.
Of the 100,000 old-timers
Who risked their lives.
In the legendary gold rush,
Only one in three made it.
For them, dawson city
Was a millionaire's playground.
At its height,
A piece of prime real estate.
Cost up to $16 million
In today's money.
And a bottle of champagne,
$1,600.
Claim recorder office
Is across from this building.
That is past this steam wheeler.
But getting to dawson
Wasn't the end.
For the lucky few
Who found gold-rich ground.
It meant nothing until
They'd registered their claim.
At the dawson city
Recorder's office.
Any last-minute Concerns, mate?
Yeah, the only concern I have
Is if it's already been staked,
But there was no posts around.
But you never know.
Posts can rot away.
Okay, good luck.
Howdy. Hello.
Good.
Can I record a claim, Please?
Do you think It's been staked?
It is.
It's just above Hootalinqua.
Yeah, time will tell.
There we are.
So, it's just Below cape horn,
Which is in the top right There.
Yeah.
It doesn't look like
There's any claims in there.
Perfect.
That's good news!
Yeah, sounds like it's open.
All right.
Thank you for the help.
All right. Perfect.
Thank you.
Really? Got it!
Who were you On the phone with?
Yeah.
Got ourselves a yukon claim.
Nice!
All right.
Let's go drink a beer.
Hells yeah. To the beer!
Parker, rick, Karla, and james.
Have tested themselves
Against the old-timers of 1897.
The freezing river forced them.
To complete the journey
By plane,
But otherwise,
They've achieved their ambition.
We've got a claim.
There's nothing left
But to celebrate.
- Thanks for the journey, boys.
- That was a blast.
No, thank you guys for coming
Along with this crazy ride.
For us. Cheers.
Cheers. Cheers!
Yeah, I mean, this has been
A real adventure.
And that's what I was
Looking for, you know?
When we left at the end
Of our mining season,
The yukon river
Was already freezing up.
Whether we like it
Or not, here we go.
We knew we were in
For one hell of a ride.
And one hell of a race
Against the winter.
How long until
We get to the car?
It was brutal.
- Yeah.
- This is madness.
- Watch out!
- Holy.
Dudes, we are not moving.
And we got a very small taste.
Of what the old-timers
Went through.
They were some
Damned-tough old guys.
We're sailing!
Whoo!
The gold rush trail Goes through.
Some of the most untouched
Wilderness in the world.
It's truly some
Beautiful country.
I've had some of
The best times of my life.
With some very good friends
Of mine.
Whoo! Yeah!
Whoo-hoo!
It's just cool.
My grandpa would be damn proud
Of what we've achieved.
He was a real pioneer of alaska,
One of the originals.
It was a taste of what all
Our grandparents went through,
And so let's cheers To them.
Cheers. Whoo!
To our heritage.
To the old-timers.
Whoo! To the old-timers.
It was a great trip.
A lot of good memories.
I just wish my grandpa
Could've been here with us.
Thought about him
Every step of the way.
We're not here to be polite.
We're here for the truth.
After the toughest
Journey of their lives,
Parker and three
Best friends share.
What really happened
On the trail.
It's all coming back to me.
I have ptsd right now.
They reveal The pain
you, nature.
The struggle
That's when it finally hit me,
Like
"Something bad
Is going to happen here."
I can't feel my feet at all.
Rick, fire, you guys,
We got, like, 5 minutes.
And the conflict
That nearly Tore them apart
I was in control.
You just going to leave us over
There, sitting on the beach?
How the
Was I supposed to know it?
Found out pretty quickly
That I didn't like that.
He's a.
And how close
They came to disaster.
- We're getting kind of
- -whoa!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
All of a sudden,
"A nice hike in the yukon,".
Turns into best friend dying.
In never-before-seen Footage
Their secrets are exposed.
- That was being taped?
- Yeah.
Don't tell my mom.
That's parker, isn't it?
He's just kind of
Yeah. I'm sorry.
And for the first time,
Parker confronts his grief.
For his beloved grandpa john.
For me, this trip was
An important part of dealing.
With my grandfather's death.
The sensible thing for this trip.
Would've been to leave,
You know, 2 months
Before we did.
But the last 2 weeks
Of our mining season,
We made almost a million bucks.
So we couldn't leave
That behind,
And we had to leave
When we had to leave.
Rick hasn't had breakfast.
Well, we need to feed rick.
Want some scrambled eggs?
- Sure.
- Rick and I talked.
To a lot of people about
Doing this trek on the phone.
When we first got To haines.
Hi. I'm looking for jeff.
Hey, jeff. My name's rick ness.
I was hoping to talk
To you a little bit.
About the chilkoot trail.
And we're trying
To take off next week.
Yeah.
There was not a single person.
That could tell us
It was a good idea.
To go on the trip
This time of year.
It was just like,
"No," you know,
"You're going to die."
All right. Well, man,
I appreciate your insight.
Bye.
He was telling me someone did
The trip this time of year,
And they made it to
Within 20 miles of dawson,
Then got locked up in the ice,
And they never made it.
Did they die? Yeah.
Nobody.
Of course, I'm always listening.
This was, like, 1,000 years ago.
When people Weren't so tough.
Parker is a goal-oriented guy,
And that's great.
And I'm happy for that.
But this is something
That's not in his control.
You cannot Buck the weather.
You know, it was just
Nonsense to even think.
About trying to do it
At that time,
But we didn't really
Have another option.
I mean, being prepared
Is all relative, right?
We had a lot more preparations
Than most of the people.
That went on this trek
120 years ago.
They had, like, sheepskin
And a dead fox on their head.
This is madness.
Look out.
Yeah, those guys.
We spoke to were right.
This is, like,
Freezing up proper.
- But you know what?
- Careful.
We're getting kind of
whoa! Whoa,
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Parker!
I don't regret a thing.
Everybody rolling? Sync clap.
One, two, three
Boom.
If that won't do it,
James says that'll do it.
This adventure is like
Nothing parker's done before.
Filmmaker james forces
The four friends.
To become camera operators.
You're each going to have
One of these mini cameras.
Rolling all the time,
Nothing missed ever.
All right. First test.
I do not know
How to use a camera.
I've spent the last 6 years
Of my life in front of a camera,
For the most part.
But I'm not a filmmaker.
Gopro rig.
I swear to
I'm going to shoot somebody.
How the Do I get this thing on.
What the? So that goes
This piece of.
And then you have
To pack this thing.
Like, what do
They expect us to do,
Get lost for 2 months?
What the
Am I going to do with this?
Not my idea of fun.
I hated the minicams.
Chuck this gopro battery
At somebody's head.
Mine's just
Dragging my pants off.
I find it hilarious that I have
A gopro pointed at me,
And I have a gopro pointed
At the gopro.
I think we could have had
Some more cameras.
I think we needed some more.
Yeah.
There wasn't quite enough.
And we broke a lot of them.
That was not intentional.
Rick, we discovered
Quite early on in the trip,
Had a remarkable
Knack of breaking.
Almost everything
That he touched.
I don't know. Yeah.
Day not even day one.
Day before day one,
I broke one, I think.
So what happened, rick?
That's not supposed
To be separate?
- No.
- Our first breakage.
Good job, richard.
Yeah. I'm big and clumsy,
End of story.
Quite a few cameras went down.
At sort of the destructive
Touch of mr. Ness.
Woops. I did not break one
Of them intentionally.
Didn't, I didn't.
We had a chase crew.
They kept their distance.
They left us very much
To ourselves.
- How's it going?
- Good, what's up?
The only time They meet.
Is to resupply
Camera batteries and cards.
We were facing Lack of food.
We needed some good snacks
That you happen to have.
Yeah.
- Oi, oi, oi, oi!
- Get them, get them.
- Yeah, yeah!
- My god.
- Yeah, boy.
- Whoo!
Yeah, buddy.
I did.
It was like three cookies.
So excited.
Gypsies, tramps
And thieves, boys.
One week before They set off,
Parker and rick were
Still busy mining for gold.
And that total is
Forty-three eleven.
So that's just over
5 million bucks worth of gold.
But parker was pushing.
For an even tougher challenge.
In our 4 years up here,
We've found a Ton of gold.
Like, that's a lot of gold.
And it always makes me
Wonder if, a hundred years ago,
We could've made it up here
From down south.
So the last month or so,
Rick and I have been planning
A trip up the chilkoot trail.
To go from scagway
All the way to dawson,
The exact same trek
That they did 118 years ago.
We're going to do it
With no assistance.
As long as rick's still in.
You guys know me, right?
That's right in my wheelhouse.
I didn't want to make
This trip at all.
I didn't.
All I wanted to do
Is go home, man.
I was tired.
It's like your boss Asking you.
To go to the company dinner,
Except this company dinner
Is a month in the woods,
And you might die.
Well, the best of luck
To you guys, really.
- You guys can do it.
- Yeah.
- Cheers.
- Thanks.
How's the training going, Rick?
Just killing it.
I wouldn't say I was
Taking it seriously.
Until getting checked out
By a doctor.
I was like, "Holy."
This isn't going away."
before they set out
On this extreme physical test,
The production crew
Insists parker.
And rick have a full
Physical with a doctor.
I'm pretty sure that
I'm in pretty good health.
I'm 22 years old,
Don't drink a drop.
The reason they're
Sending this doctor.
Out here is for rick ness.
Hey, rick.
The doctor's here to see you.
Give me 2 minutes. I'm smoking.
Rick's not a very healthy guy.
He drinks a lot, Smokes a lot.
There's only so long
You can keep that up.
I'll be all right.
I'm not the ideal candidate
For this trip.
I know that.
Is this pocket meat?
This is a pocket steak.
That's a leftover
Steak from last night.
That's usually my lunch.
I don't know. I like meat.
I eat big slabs of meat.
I'm a dude.
Just barrels and barrels of
Empty beer cans in my trailer.
That ought to impress him.
But I got a pocket steak.
I just don't want him
To look in there.
That's just from last night.
Obviously, I don't want
To be not truthful to a doctor.
You know, I fully
Disclosed to him,
You know, my habits.
Went through everything,
And he said, "Hey, you're good."
And I was kind of like, "I am?"
What kind of doctor are you?"
so you're all signed off.
You can go.
I can go. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately, I can go.
I really, in my opinion,
I thought that,
Of the four of us,
Rick would be
The potential heart attack guy.
I did end up getting a call
Back from the doctor.
Who wanted to discuss
A little further.
He was a little worried,
He said, you know,
"There's a chance that you could
Go into a detox out in the woods.
And, you know,
Die or something."
up ahead
For me, this trip
Was an important part of dealing.
With my grandfather's death.
Ooh. Boy.
I'm proud of you, parker.
Parker, you know,
He's got youth on his side.
James is fit.
And, you know,
Karla does it for a damn living.
They'd have to be
Fools not to know.
That I was the weak link.
You know, that was probably.
My most miserable day
Of the whole trip.
I mean, it was brutal.
Day one On the 600-mile trail,
And rick's already struggling.
I should've called you, like,
A month ago and been like,
"Start pumping."
Yeah.
How you feeling, Rick?
I don't know.
My right quad in my leg.
Is just wanting
To ball up into a knot.
It's not good.
Rick probably started losing
Weight right away.
He probably just started
Dropping pounds right away.
I'm soaked head
To toe with sweat.
Like, that's not good once you
Get up in that colder weather.
How did anybody
Allow me to do this?
If we don't hustle,
We're going to be.
Setting up camp In the dark.
And it was just like,
"This is my life
For the next month."
I can't get out of this.
Is this it now?
Is this the next 30 days?
"Because if it is, I'm going
To lose my mind."
The golden stairs is the
Toughest test on the trail,
A 45-degree ascent up
A mountain pass.
With 8-foot boulders,
Snow and ice.
The golden stairs
Is what I was absolutely.
The most scared of
Of the whole trip.
Deep down, I was just like,
"There's no way."
I was dreading it.
The golden stairs.
I don't see any stairs.
I don't see any gold.
I could sure use a
Golden escalator right now.
I had no idea that the whole
Side of the mountain.
Was just a big boulder field
And everything leading up to it.
That's when it finally
Hit me, like,
"something bad
Is going to happen here."
Boy. Let's do it.
It's slippery.
Can't see the holes.
Very steep.
This is sketchy.
This is dangerous, man.
It's just snow-covered boulders.
Whoa.
Watch the out.
In a normal circumstance,
Like, how bad can you get hurt,
You know, doing that?
And then add Another 75 pounds.
In a backpack on top of that,
And, you know, Breaking your leg.
Turns into Snapping it in half.
Be careful in here, Richard.
Okay. God.
This is madness.
- You all right?
- You all right, rick?
I'm done right now.
I had heard from a lot
Of people that said.
That I wasn't going to make it.
And then I saw todd hoffman
At a mine expo in vegas,
And he was just like,"
You're not going to make it."
And I'm just like, "you, man."
Todd has provided a huge amount
Of motivation for us.
And now he's pulled it
With rick on this trek.
He's a.
I absolutely had something
To prove, you know what I mean?
I had to prove it to myself
Because I had doubts.
And I damn sure was going
To prove it to todd.
And I didn't have the skills,
So I just kept pushing.
We go up the mountain.
I didn't look up too much.
It was just like,
"Just keep going.
Just keep going."
It literally seemed,
In that moment,
To be life or death to me.
And I'd convinced myself
That that was life or death.
Life was at the top
Of the mountain,
And death was
Anywhere not there.
So I just stayed stubborn
And bullied my way through it.
You, nature.
You okay?
The summit.
This is so cool.
I was like, "Holy."
What did I just do?"
- whoo!
- Yeah.
I didn't think I could do that.
But I can.
You're damn right I can.
You know, I am strong.
You know, and it gave me
A huge boost in confidence.
And, you know, that day,
We were still in the beginning
Of the whole trip,
But I felt like
I'd already beat it.
I never said I was brilliant.
I probably did.
Parker got his first
Gun at the age of 7.
Parker is an exceptional hunter.
Looks like four or five ducks
Right below him.
Growing up in alaska, that has
Been a priority of mine,
To make sure that my boys
Are able to deal.
With the elements.
You.
Okay, good.
Sake.
They've got to be able
To live off the land.
I mean, this thing may as well
Be a stick.
They've got to be Able to hunt.
They've got to be Able to fish.
Handle just fell In the water.
Well, I Hate fishing.
He had a good foundation
In that regard.
The fish Are laughing at us.
Parker had some old gun
That was totally beat up.
Where's my gun?
There is a system
To take care of your rifle.
And to take care of it,
And it needs to respected.
Gun's In the water, mate.
Yeah. I see that.
You need to make sure
That they're not full of grit,
And they're not full of dirt and
Their movable parts are greased,
And they're oiled,
And they're cleaned.
My gun!
My gun is frozen.
Hope we don't run
Into any bears.
He knows the proper way
To take care of things.
Because he has had
Good training by me.
Rick, my gun's A little frozen.
Yeah, I can see that.
Warrants cooking over A fire?
I guess so.
Geez.
That was a travesty.
You have to have a lot
Of respect for a firearm.
Because you're causing
An explosion.
Right next to your face,
And you want that explosion
To go that way.
There's a bunch
Of plastic parts in there.
That you burned?
Probably.
Hope I don't blow My hands up.
And that was the last
We saw of parker's hands.
Really?
They didn't say a thing
To me on the trip.
How can you not change
Your socks for that many days?
He had other socks.
Sharing a tent For 4 weeks,
The crew gets pretty intimate.
You going to put Fresh socks on?
Nope.
Twelve days,
Same pairs of socks.
- Yes.
- They going stank.
That's parker, isn't it?
He's just kind of,
Yeah, I'm sorry.
A little stinky sock
Consideration goes a long way.
Well, you're not going
To get that from me.
I tried. I did a lot of laundry.
When they were growing up.
They had clean clothes.
You've got, You know, left foot,
Right foot,
Then you can swap that.
Then inside out.
Then swap them again.
You know, you've got a lot
Of options just like underwear.
Don't put that On tv please.
You know,.
There's nobody out here
To smell me that I care about.
I got asked, actually,
Who smelled the worst.
Like.
And I didn't have an answer,
So I knew it was myself.
We were just our own
Little tribe of stink.
I'm disgusting.
So how musty do you feel
On a scale of one to 10?
Ten.
It's been almost 2 weeks
Since I've showered.
But you're using
Wet wipes, right?
Hell no.
How am I supposed to use
Ice-cold wet wipes at night?
Rick, do you brush Your teeth?
Yeah.
You want to know A secret?
What?
I wasn't going
To say anything, but
what?
I forgot my toothbrush
And my toothpaste.
Have you told anybody?
No, I was trying not to.
Thanks for busting me, Karla.
Off, karla.
You're such a.
One of the upsides
Of being in the wilderness.
Is the peace and tranquility.
Just shut up.
I need my Beauty sleep.
Rick's snoring.
Rick was the noisiest snorer
I think I've ever heard.
It's like we had a dying
Whale in our tent.
I slept great.
That was probably some
Of the best sleep
I've ever had was on this trip.
There's a little bit of a nerve
You're touching right now.
It's all coming back to me.
I have ptsd right now.
I mean, I can talk a ton
Of about james,
And I probably will.
I'm a filmmaker and have
Spent most of my career.
Working in extreme Environments,
Whether it be investigating
Illegal logging.
In southeast asia.
Or living with nomadic
Reindeer herders in siberia.
- Morning.
- I think he's got.
A higher opinion about himself.
About certain things
Than he should.
My experience of working
In extreme locations.
Was one of the reasons.
Why I was a good fit
For this expedition.
Snow.
James is a city boy.
I thought that I knew
James pretty well.
I had worked with him
From the beginning,
My first couple years
On "Gold rush."
That was a lot different
Than having to spend.
A whole month,
24 hours a day with him.
Hello.
Shut up, james.
Up, up, up. Let's go.
Get the camera off.
I hated it.
I hated being in front
Of that canoe.
Because it was james behind me.
Let's go. Spin it around.
We don't go sideways
In the trough.
Well, I'm going to
Spin us around quick.
You motor. No.
Let's just go Straight that way.
No, we can't do that.
We'll unbalance.
You have To do that to turn?
- No.
- Holy.
Right. We're heading there.
James has an interesting
Way of talking.
Um,
He probably had a good 200,
300 words.
That were Just nonsense,
That didn't mean anything.
All right.
Piggy piggy.
Okeydokey.
I was looking At those piggies.
Bonkers.
Doodah, whatsit, Thingamadoo.
Like, a second is
No longer a second.
It's a sec-a-roony.
Fiddly-diddly. I don't think
I said fiddly-diddly.
Dins instead of dinner.
It takes the same amount
Of effort to say dinner.
As it does To say din-din.
Look at that Chunky monkey.
What? What are you
Talking about, james?
What chunky monkey?
There is nothing that we had
That you should've described.
As a chunky monkey.
I
What does that mean?
Monkey is the thing.
And chunky is the adjective.
You know, I really actually hate.
All your stupid
Little phrases, right?
Well, you know, you just
Can't listen to the haters.
And I talk funny. I'm sorry.
We started kind of
Calling it a disease.
We called it the brits.
Did rick sit here
And sing a song?
No.
If we wouldn't have
Had karla, we probably.
Wouldn't have made it out
Of the parking lot in haines.
Watch out. Watch out.
Can we just keep it mellow.
For a bit so we can cook?
Karla's got yukon
Wilderness in her dna.
My great grandfather
Was a gold miner.
Who came over in
The original batch of pioneers.
He was just one of
Those fierce characters.
That charged his way
Straight up to dawson.
However he could,
On foot, with dogsleds,
On bicycle.
And on one of his journeys,
It was like a minus-40,
Minus-60 super cold spell.
And he was drying
His gear over the fire,
And he fell asleep,
And his shoes fell in the fire,
And he had no more footwear.
And so he did, like,
400 miles in a burlap bag.
And he eventually
Staked his own claim.
So when I think
Of those stories, I'm like,
"Man, we're not as tough
As the old-timers."
Like, we've been, like,
Babied by technology,
And it's so sad.
The thing I admire
Most about karla.
Is she has a very
Infectious energy.
And just she's a joy
To be around.
Hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoo, hoo, hoo.
The first time I realized.
Karla was a real badass
Was when she came.
And drove the rock truck for us.
At the mine site, she'd run
The haul truck for 12 hours,
And then she'd climb up
The hill behind our camp.
Right after getting done
Doing that.
And then go eat dinner,
You know what I mean?
And then work out After dinner.
Karla's the toughest out
Of all four of us, big-time.
How you feeling?
Pretty tired, Hot and sweaty.
You?
I feel all right.
That doesn't make any sense.
I'm completely lost.
Rick, how you doing?
It's inside out.
That's It's just
Inside out.
It's just upside down,
Inside out.
The first night,
I think parker was like,
"Can I borrow some toothpaste?"
And I was like,
"I don't have to babysit
These punk boys."
I feel like every time
I looked around,
Something was going on
That made me kind of feel.
A bit ill, you know,
Whether it was like parker
Almost shooting a loon
Should we shoot that loon?
- Mnh-mnh.
- Why not?
It's just a given.
You don't shoot loons or swans.
Or rick cutting His toes off
In one.
Almost took My foot off.
Yeah, that was
I really did it This time.
When you're on an expedition
Like this, it's tough.
People are tired.
People are hungry.
You're welcome.
Boys.
- Holy moley.
- Boys.
We had a fishing competition,
And karla won it hands down.
Good stuff.
You've got another one.
Yeah. Karla is on fire.
More proof of her
Superior skill set.
Fresh fish tonight, boy.
How many we got now?
I don't know. Six or seven.
Perfect. That's a wicked meal.
Got almost two fish
Per people, man.
Going to be Eating good tonight.
Thank you for not
Letting us starve.
You're welcome.
Without her knowledge,
Her energy, Her attitude,
I think we would've
Been destined to fail.
I was hoping that this trip
Was not going to be like mining.
You know, I was hoping there was
Going to be different attitudes.
Parker and rick
Are firm friends,
But parker never
Lets rick forget who's boss.
No fixing that one.
Do I look like A belt fairy?
There's a lot of times
Where, you know,
When we're at the mine, working,
Where it's just like parker.
Would push things way farther
Than they need to go.
What the?
And look, you don't want
To waste your time?
It's my Time to waste.
You are making
An enemy out of me.
So leave.
Early in the trip,
Parker falls into old habits.
You just going to leave us over
There, sitting on the beach?
What the?
Get the Back here.
- Are you okay then?
- Yeah.
Yeah? Promise?
Yeah. Well, until parker
Comes over here.
And starts giving me lip.
Just tell him To off.
This is a slap in the face.
I'm seeing what I call
Typical parker popping up,
And I've been dealing
With it for 5 years,
And dealing with it
For 600 miles on this river.
Is not something
That I'm willing to do.
Parker and I had a talk,
You know, where it was like,
"You know, this is
Not the mine site."
This is different.
You know what I mean?
This is not a, you know,
'who's the boss' kind of thing.
"This is just some
Friends on a trip."
and parker Begins to change.
I'm sorry For yelling at you.
Don't worry about it.
All right.
We'll figure this out.
- All right.
- It's just a situation.
We'll get out of it.
Then, when it comes
To staking the claim,
Parker makes a point
Of honoring their friendship.
You know, rick and I
Have both been.
Through a rough couple of years.
And we've both lost
A couple grandparents.
I know that rick's grandpa
Meant a lot to him.
What are we naming the claim?
Perseverance?
That was the name
Of your grandpa's boat, right?
Yeah.
That'd be cool.
Yeah, let's do it.
Took a lot of that To get here.
- Exactly.
- He'd be honored.
- I'm honored.
- Let's do that.
You have it tattooed
On your hand, don't you?
You're damn right I do.
There's the spelling.
To be able to attach
Something from my family.
To that whole trip
Was really an honor.
You think he'd be proud
Of what you've achieved so far?
I think he'd be proud.
Yeah?
I mean, this was
One hell of a journey.
I think that my family.
Will really enjoy seeing
That on the show,
And that's going to mean
A lot, you know?
Beautiful.
I'm not all just rage.
There's a soul
Down there somewhere.
That's nuts.
Where's the axe?
I'll go grab the axe.
Yeah, buddy.
Who's fault was whitehorse?
Um
I think karla took charge
Of a lot of it.
I didn't want to go
To whitehorse.
James did.
Rick.
Is it
Was it me?
Rick cut his toe Just 12 miles.
From the only city
On the trail, whitehorse.
And the production team
Insists he visits the hospital.
If it were me,
I'd just wrap it in duct tape.
And go, But I'm being forced.
With an unscheduled
Stop thrust on the team
We got to get
Pork and beans. Let's go.
The rule book
Goes right out the window.
As soon as that
First beer hit my lips,
I knew I needed to have
At least 12 more.
Rick got really drunk
In whitehorse.
I remember rick talking
About erections.
For like 30 minutes.
None of it was Taped though.
Really? Yeah.
Where?
That was being taped? Yeah.
I'm getting a boner.
Like every day?
Like every hour?
It could be the cold.
No, no.
He's on the cleanse.
Yeah. It was a very
Mature thing to do.
Hi.
Drunk? Yeah.
Stinks in there.
Next morning,
Series producer simon.
Catches up with the team.
My god. Simon's here. My god.
My god. Hi, simon.
You two disgust me.
You disgust me. You just
It's just pitiful
Looking at you.
You've cheated.
Shut up, simon.
You know, Historical accuracy,
We would've been
Staying in a whorehouse.
Was it worth it?
So worth it.
I don't look at the night
That we spent in whitehorse.
As cheating or anything
Like that.
If anything, Back in the day,
All the amenities
Were on the trail.
There was booze.
There was meals.
There was whorehouses ran
By donald trump's grandfather.
There were hotels.
Am I doing a good job
At justifying it?
Not really.
Bringing the mullet back.
You didn't like that haircut?
It was the best.
It was so canadian.
During the mining season,
Parker never has time
For haircuts.
But on day one of the trail,
Karla and her scissors
Come to his rescue.
This is carlos' cuts,
5 minutes, 5 bucks.
Having karla cut my hair.
In the dark next to the fire
Was my way of going feral.
We were predators now.
Can't have my hair In your eyes.
We're going
For functionality here.
Tell me the truth.
Is it terrible?
It's not terrible.
I mean, you can pull it off.
And I'm like,
"Look at that nerd."
That's country chic. All right.
Right on. I can see!
Yeah-ho-ho! Yes!
Like it?
Don't ask me To do that again.
Every parent looks and hopes.
And prays for signs of maturity
In their children.
The last meal
Before they took off.
That we all had together,
Parker was antsy.
Parker just wanted
To get on with it.
He didn't want to keep
Talking about it.
He just wanted to go.
We make it, Or we die trying.
So you're going to
Put yourself in danger?
I am determined to do
What I said I'm going to do.
If we're 100 miles to go,
And it would be 3 days
On the river.
Or 10 days hiking,
I'm going to go do
A 10-day hike.
And you're going to drag
Your crew with you?
Yeah, I'd do it anyway.
Yeah. Come on.
For me, it's about
Getting to dawson.
It will Be completely unsafe.
Teenage boys Into young manhood,
That's a dicey time
When, you know,
There's a lot of bravado,
And there's a lot of
You're just invincible.
I was very concerned.
During the 4-week trip
Parker leads his crew Through.
A number of life-threatening
Situations.
Whoa, whoa. Brace yourselves.
- Whoa, whoa.
- We're going to die.
Whoa!
Whoa, whoa. James, look out.
- Watch out!
- -holy.
But the real test comes.
When the yukon river starts.
To freeze around them.
It's pretty solid,
So we could probably do it.
Think so?
I don't know.
Just right here. You got it?
Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Your paddle.
Whoa!
I think that that was
A pivotal moment for him.
Whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Dude, get to shore.
Get to shore!
Parker was on An ice shelf.
You know, if he got stuck
Under that ice shelf,
We might not have been able
To get after him.
That was the worst case scenario
Was anybody falling in.
That was leading, you know,
To hypothermia and frostbite.
That's how you die.
That was the moment
Parker kind of grew up.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa.
Dude, get to shore.
Get to shore.
Just get up there!
Even parker had to admit
To himself like,
"You know, this is real."
I can't feel my feet at all.
I'm sorry that happened.
That was just dumb.
It's such an easy way to die.
I couldn't have somebody
Getting hurt out there.
My grandpa's told me
A lot of stories.
About guys working
For him that have died.
It's damn tough
To see someone die.
Because of your Judgement.
I don't want to see you have
To go through that.
You don't know how
You're going to feel.
When you go up
To somebody's wife.
And tell her
There's been an accident.
You know, Above everything else,
That's something that
I never want to have to do.
The fact That we didn't make it.
To dawson Under our own power,
You know, I feel like
That's a bit of a failure.
And I hate that. I hate it.
But it was the smart decision.
What we saw from the air
Once we were in the plane,
We would've never made it.
All of a sudden,
"A nice hike in the yukon".
Turns into, you know,
Best friend dying.
I've seen parker change.
He learned about humility.
You know, that's really
Good for him.
That's a good life lesson.
And I think that
He's matured in that way.
We're in dawson city.
We're alive.
There's nothing left
But to celebrate, yeah.
My father, I know he's up there
Watching this whole scene,
Beaming that he left
Behind a grandson.
That's carrying on his ways.
I know that my father's up
There probably.
Shedding a tear of pride.
I spent a lot of time
On this trip thinking.
About my grandpa, yeah.
From the age of 4,
Grandpa john was parker's
Mining and life mentor.
Thank you, you know,
For the last few years.
It's taught me a lot.
I look upon you Like the eagle.
When it flaps its wings
And flies out of the nest,
He never comes back For help.
My grandpa was
A real pioneer of alaska.
And he taught me a huge amount.
Parker! Hey, parker.
For me, this trip was
An important part of dealing.
With my grandfather's
Death, yeah.
I'm 22 years old.
And I got to spend,
You know, 21 of them.
With the most
Wonderful grandfather.
You could imagine.
He even made us a sign
At big nugget
"Wilderness is therapy."
I agree with
That wholeheartedly.
It was a nice little gift
For him to leave us, yeah.
You know, one thing
I always keep in mind.
Is how valuable
My grandpa's experiences.
And stories
Were to me as I grew up,
And an adventure
Like this will be.
A great story.
For some grandkids one day.
Hopefully not too soon, but