Gold Rush: White Water

It's a nugget!

No way!

- I'm not a nugget! - A nugget?

- That's a nugget! - -That's a nugget!

- I told you. - Whoo!

On their first dive,

just three weeks into the season,

Dustin hurt and his crew had a breakthrough.

My god!

Their new dive site, nugget bend,

is living up to its name.

- Yeah! - -Best gold ever this early.

Right there, there's another one.

- Yeah! - My god!

Nugget bend! Yes!

It just seems like there are gonna be big nuggets from here on out, man.

So, it's not just stories.

It's not just stories!

Everything we've heard is true now.

That's a lot of money right there.

Wow. This is what we needed.

We needed this so bad.

This is awesome.

Finally, all this hard work is gonna pay off.

Here we come.

This is our year.

There's a lot of water, boys.

It's going to flood like crazy.

This place is dangerous, man.

Whoa! Hey!

The gold is great, but not worth your life.

Look, it knocked the top of the Weir off.

It's a huge setback.

Get up there!

I don't know that we're gonna find any damn fine gold, yo.

We haven't seen nothing in inspection mats.

You got gold!

I'd say that's at least 1,200 bucks.

No one's been here, ever.

Yeah!

It doesn't get any better than this.

I love it, just getting started.

It's like Christmas morning right now, man.

Well, we found our first nug, yo.

And it didn't take much.

When I picked it up, it's like, "holy look at that."

Not flakes, not specks... Nuggets.

Last year was a nightmare,

and this year, we have to make up for it.

Striking out last season

has left Dustin and his crew close to broke.

- We needed a win. - Definitely needed that.

But rumors of a life changing pay day

lured them back for one last shot

at nugget creek's legendary gold.

I mean, whenever on the first dive have we ever pulled out gold?

Yeah, it sounds like everybody that's been here in the past,

all they did is went behind boulders

and just hit little spots.

They don't think they ever touched bedrock.

- I love it. - The motivation is here now.

This season,

Dustin also has another more personal reason driving him.

So, y'all know Fred's not doing that good.

He is celebrating his 80th birthday next week,

so I'll be gone for a couple days.

So, how long did they give you?

Anywhere from few months...

To six months.

It's progressing every day.

Sorry to hear that, Fred.

It's too bad.

Dustin's father and mentor,

79-year-old, Fred hurt

has been diagnosed with incurable brain tumors.

Hopefully, we make it long enough to where we can...

- Show you some gold. - That's my goal.

Go hold out long enough to see some gold come out of nugget creek.

I love you.

Hope we get to see you again.

All right.

So, I'll be going to Fred's 80th birthday

- to show him some nuggets. - Yep.

We're motivated, but guess what,

that just motivates us more and more.

Sounds like we're cracking the code on this, man. I'm loving it.

We're all gonna be fighting who goes in next?

"It's my turn."

"No, you dove last time."

"No, I wanna go again."

I think this nugget is gonna be the baby.

It's gonna pay off, finally.

Life altering gold.

This is what we've been looking for all these years.

It's going to be the best year we have ever had.

This off-season,

Dustin got his hands on an old map

that increased his claim boundary by 250 feet,

gifting him nugget bend

which is already yielding big gold.

Look at that clear water.

Can't wait to get suited up and get in.

See if we can put a lot more gold in the box today.

Well, we got Paul in diving today.

We're just working upstream

trying to find the deep spot,

trying to find all the gold.

Hopefully, it's gonna be a great day today.

Dustin has a radical new mining plan

that should make this season a success.

So, we built this Weir,

we're trying to keep all the fast water on that side,

keep control on this side.

He's diverted the main flow of the creek

by building a rock Weir

which creates a calm shallow area for the divers to dredge down

to bedrock gold.

- All right, a-team, get in the water. - -Do it!

Let's find some gold!

Paul's goal is to pick up the hunt

where Carlos left off.

It's time to start dredging.

I am so curious to see what's on the bedrock.

Using a six inch hose

Paul will suck up all the loose material

covering bedrock,

sending it to the sluice box above.

Hopefully, there's tons of gold in there.

Gravity then separates the lighter gravel

and the riffles will trap all the heavy gold.

Wow.

So, now, I'm following the crack that's going upstream.

Just like your riffles in the sluice box.

This is a natural riffle through here.

That part hard pack right there?

That's what it seems like.

I see some red coming up.

Why don't you follow that for a little while,

see what you get down to.

Paul has discovered a crack in the bedrock

towards the center of the creek

that could be a major gold trap.

Even better, it contains red hard pack.

A compacted gravel laid down thousands of years ago

that often delivers their best gold.

He's getting into that crimson pack

that's been there since ice age.

That's a seal to let everybody know,

no one's been here, ever.

Hey, you want the sprayer?

That's probably not a bad idea.

Hardpack nozzle coming up.

To release the trapped gold,

Dustin brings in a high pressure hose

to blast the hard pack.

- I'm turning it on. You ready? - Yep.

And... power.

Holy yeah! There it is!

That's hard pack!

Cha-ching!

This is working out for us, hopefully.

I think we're about to hit it big, man.

Now, it's time to get some gold.

After an hour of blasting hard pack...

You look like you're making some good progress.

Check the sluice box.

It's time to see if it's delivering.

Yeah, I see gold.

Yeah, there's a big, big nugget there, Dustin.

- A big nug? - Right there.

Paul's on the scoreboard for getting nuggets.

Hell yeah.

The central bedrock crack is already paying out.

Nugget bend continues to yield big gold.

This will be the season

that changes their lives forever.

That's pretty.

It doesn't get any better than this.

Yeah!

Second day in a row, we've got gold.

We're gonna be getting gold every day now!

Whoo!

I love it.

We're just getting started.

Up ahead.

I see a storm coming.

That's the end of this.

Talk about a blind date that went wrong.

There it is. Look, that.

Gold, gold, gold!

Cha-ching!

I can deal with that.

I got high hopes.

There's gonna be a lot more nuggets today.

Hey, man, let's see how much you can get out of that hole today, all right?

Copy that.

At nugget bend, just three weeks into the season,

Dustin and his crew are already on the gold.

Look at that! Whoo!

- Look at that! - Look at that!