Original subtitles

To honor parker schnabel's grandfather...

Four friends are taking on

one of the planet's wildest journeys...

Anybody changing their mind, now is the time.

To see if they can finish the trail...

Um, I don't know if I got it in me.

You just gonna leave us over there?

How the was I supposed to know?!

And find gold

like the legends who came before them.

Unreal, the that these old-timers went through.

Now we get a sneak peek

into an upcoming series about this expedition.

My biggest concern is somebody getting hurt.

But first, we're digging deep into the seven years

that led up to this journey...

That's a, um, pretty sensitive topic for me.

One thing I've never wanted to do is be an angry person.

Life's too short for that.

And uncovering what inspired their adventure.

You know, for me personally,

it's a big testament to my grandpa.

Give me a hug.

Coming up on "gold rush: Before the trail."

in the seven years before setting off on their epic trek,

friends and now business partners

parker schnabel and rick ness...

Come on, come down.

Have been on

a different sort of roller coaster ride.

Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

They've been hitting the highs...

And lows...

Yeah, we're at a standstill.

Of gold mining.

For parker, it all began with noisy neighbors.

So, the first year that todd hoffman came up to alaska

and went gold mining,

I was 15 when he showed up and set up shop

literally about 300 yards from my grandpa's cabin...

Like, just across the creek, bordering claims.

Take a look at this.

Get some neighbors,

They got a lot of machinery. Yeah.

And so, naturally, you get to know the neighbors.

And I ended up on the show a few times

just because, you know, like, I sold them some firewood.

Parker, what's with the wood?

You feeling sorry for these guys?

No.

I charged them double what I usually do.

And the next season, they called me up and said,

"hey, we're looking to film with some other mine sites,

and we really love the story about you and your grandpa."

and the rest is history.

Here we are, probably 150 episodes later.

Wow, you weren't screwing around too much

when you were 20, were you?

No, I was working like an idiot, like you.

All work and no play.

You've got to get big, you got to think big.

Grandpa john handed parker the mine

when he was 16 years old, and parker quickly began

to scale up the operation and hire his own crew.

Many of them have come and gone.

But one, rick ness, has been with him through thick and thin.

Rick and I met...

It was our first summer on "gold rush."

his band came to haines for a big state fair...

And I met him after one of the shows.

Yep. Fanboy.

I didn't even know he was on the show at the time.

Honestly, I've traveled a lot.

I've been, you know, all over the world,

and alaska just really blew me away when I saw it.

I really... Honestly, all I was looking for

was a way to spend a summer in alaska.

Yeah.

You spent most of that summer in a rock truck, didn't you?

Sure did. Best summer of my life.

Grandpa john was a great teacher,

but parker had to learn a few crucial lessons on his own.

I have not told you how to do your job one time

this whole year!

You won't make money if you chase the help off.

You know, I think about that first season

that I started running big nugget mine

and that my grandpa stepped back,

but I was completely unprepared.

It was very tough.

Those first few years were really tough

just because I had no experience, right?

I had zero experience, really, dealing with people

and dealing with those kind of problems.

And that's a hard thing to go into.

It's a really hard thing to go into.

And when you don't have experience to back up decisions,

you know, for me, it led

to just getting emotional about things.

And I'd get mad, I'd yell.

I don't need that okay? The first thing you do...

I don't need you yelling at me like that.

Don't talk, don't talk. Just listen.

I'm spending the money here.

I spent the money on that wash plant,

and I make the calls.

I'm not very happy with you or carl.

So, yeah, you know,

a lot of tail wagging the dog around here.

I'm not gonna take any from the little punk.

I'm pretty pissed off.

He didn't understand that, you know, while it's a business,

we are still kind of a team

and we're all kind of going for the same goal.

You know what I mean?

It took him a few years to realize that.

But now that he's kind of coming around to it,

it's improving a lot.

One thing I've never wanted to do is be an angry person.

I don't want to be that guy. Life's too short for that.

Sorry for... Being so aggressive.

Thank you for that.

Always pushing to grow,

parker and rick made the biggest jump so far,

leaving the big nugget mine behind.

There's not any good ground left, you know?

There's not another season left for me here.

The next year was a... Was a new opportunity again.

Right? Yeah.

And it was go into the klondike and try it up there.

And, you know, that's the kind of stuff I live for,

so, you know, it was a no-brainer for me to go back.

You know I couldn't stay away.

Never been so happy to see you, man.

As soon as I went up there

and as soon as I saw, like,

tony beets' operation and a few others',

that's when I was like, "all right,

this is the promised land if you want to be a gold miner."

I got to get up here where the big boys play.

And in the yukon,

there's one big boy who likes to play rough.

For me, the biggest challenge I've faced

over the last four or five years

is dealing with tony beets.

The way he does business,

he doesn't care about anybody else.

He knows how to get you in a position where you're screwed.

You just show up in the spring and shutting us down?

A contract.

You know, like, last year, we had this big issue.

He told me not to show up on his claims

until we signed a lease.

And we signed a lease, and we sent it to him

and we showed up and went to work.

And then, instead of signing it himself,

he changed it and came and told us,

"sorry, it's not valid," because we didn't sign it.

I signed it. I sent it to you.

And now you're changing it?

It's not valid until tony signs it, right?

And so that is shady, right?

That's... I don't think

that's a very good way of doing business.

Even with a tough landlord,

parker has ramped up production and begun to delegate.

One of the greatest things rick's done

is came to me this last spring,

at the beginning of the season,

and I don't think there were cameras around or anything,

but he just said, "parker",

you get way too worked up at the crew over little things.

So when you have a problem with what's going on out there,

come to me, take it out on me,

"and let me deal with it."

and that was a huge gift.

It started a huge change between him and I, for sure.

Yeah.

Now I yell at you, and you go deal with it.

It's great.

That may have been a step backwards

in your whole plan, there, but...

That only happened a couple times this summer.

Parker's temper is far from the biggest hazard on the work site.

The smallest things can prove deadly.

You know, our safety record is pretty...

Good out there, yeah.

I mean, it's great, honestly.

I've gotten hurt a few times,

but it's been for really stupid things.

You're the one that's come closest to dying

with a bee sting.

Off.

I got stung by a bee this summer

and went into anaphylactic shock.

You know, I had to find an epipen and stab myself.

Um...

But that has nothing to do with the work conditions.

You know what I mean? And...

It got me, like, right here,

and it's all swollen down to here.

And I've got, like, a woman's breast.

It's like a "c" cup.

Like, it falls.

Like, it's... no, it's absurd.

The nurse was laughing at me.

We're all laughing at him as he's puffing up.

Yeah, my face is swelling up.

And he's, like, starting to have a hard time breathing.

We're like, "we should probably stop laughing"

and do something about this."

yeah, yeah. It was scary.

Over the last seven years,

success or failure has come down to one thing...

See what this brings us to.

Yeah, there's quite a bit in there.

How much gold do they have at the end of the season?

Nice chunks.

And we've come a long way.

Our first season... I mean, before rick was even there...

We did 37 ounces.

It looks like a lot of gold,

but we spent a lot of money to get it.

The next season, we did 193 or 192.

You got 2-ounce profit.

Yeah.

Then, we went to the yukon, and that year...

First year in the yukon... We did 1,029?

I'm overwhelmed.

I never have seen that much gold in my whole life,

at one time.

And then, the second year up there, we did 2,538.

Look at that.

That's another 200.

And the year after that, 3,362.

Ooh! Boy, is that heavy.

What?!

And then, this season, we've done 4,311,

so it's been quite the progression.

I don't know.

That all adds up to probably close to 11,000 ounces or so.

Coming up, parker has to answer

to his parents and his fans.

"Could you please get parker to get a nice haircut?"

of course. I have no comment.

And then we get a sneak peek

into the upcoming miniseries...

This is brutal.

This is so dangerous.

Where parker and his three friends

push themselves to the limit.

If somebody gets hurt, that's serious up there.

You know, from hurt to killed is pretty quick.

Brace yourselves!

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

- Hey! - Parker!

For seven years, roger and nancy schnabel

have watched their son parker

grow up from a high-school sophomore

to a full-time miner.

Now we'll find out what it's been like for them as parents

and learn how parker first caught gold fever.

John mined every summer,

so the mine was always a huge part of their lives.

And parker's question to grandpa was, you know,

"when can I go to big nugget?

When can I go to the mine with you?"

and john looked at him and said,

"when you're not wearing those diapers."

in about two or three days, his mother brought him up.

And he unzipped his pants, and he said,

"grandpa, I got no diapers."

my father... it was too much for him to mine

and take care of two youngsters,

and so he would take one at a time.

Nancy and I had to figure out,

"okay, who's gonna go and who isn't gonna go?"

and payson didn't have quite the passion

for going up there than parker did.

And parker would drop anything and everything

to go up to the mine.

So he would ask us, "if payson doesn't want to go,"

grandpa said that he would take one person every day,

and so I'll fill in for payson.

"Is that okay?" and sure.

The nice thing about big nugget when I was growing up

was that it was everything a kid needed.

When I wanted to have it be a playground,

it was a playground.

When I wanted it to be a school, it was a school.

I've practically grown up up there.

How are you, buddy? Pretty good.

With parker growing up in front of the cameras,

many fans want to know what it's been like behind the scenes.

So now we let our viewers ask the questions.

Gem p. Asks...

I think that when I look back over the seven years

and, you know, going from a 15-year-old to a 22-year-old,

I think one of the things that I'm most proud of

is that he never shied away

from the challenges that kept coming up.

It has not all been easy.

It's still been, you know, at times,

a really discouraging, hard, tough road,

and he just kept at it.

It's been fun to be able to see him develop.

The klondike is the biggest sandbox in the world,

and I'm ready to play.

From melissa t.G...

"it was stressful allowing my boys to drive cars."

as far as the stress level goes, when you're raising children,

you've got to try and figure out how long or big of a leash

should you have on your child.

Did you just assume you would take that equipment?

And this is the first that you're gonna talk about it?

I'm not gonna support a kid

in thinking that life is gonna be handed out to him.

You might have something to add to that, honey?

"Very stressful" is the answer.

Extremely stressful.

And it doesn't get any easier, you know?

But we have a big joke in our family, you know,

I wanted to wrap them in bubble wrap and keep them by me.

And I still do.

I still want both of my boys home where I can see them.

And you have to trust that it works out, they're safe.

You know, lots of praying, lots of worrying.

But yeah, really stressful, melissa.

Well... There is... A clear record

of how concerned I am.

I am concerned about you, and I am...

And I'm telling you, I'm fine.

I had heard from the production crew

that he was working too long, he wasn't eating,

he was drinking coke and eating candy bars

and not sleeping.

The coffee is wearing off.

You know, obviously,

somebody tells you that about your child,

and you go find out if he's okay.

And that necessitated a trip up to big nugget to check on him

that I don't think pleased him any more than it pleased me.

It's time to take you home.

Good luck.

Don't do that.

I was upset then,

and I felt like I had some control over him.

You know, I could take him home. He was 16.

You think I can't shut this down?

You're wrong.

You're wrong.

I can shut this down.

It's very easy to see where parker gets his work ethic.

It is exactly the same as his dad,

and his is exactly the same as his dad.

It's, like, in their dna.

It's in the gene pool.

And it's just part of who they are.

We have parker join his parents...

hi.

Nice to see you, nice to see you.

To help answer a question

that many viewers have been asking.

Question from bill k...

Of course.

I like the "nice haircut."

I have no comment.

Parker knows me too well.

I don't need to comment.

This is for you. I am not commenting.

This is for you, dad.

Yeah, yeah. Roger is...

It's his independence,

and if that's the way he wants to show it, that's perfect.

It's true. Roger...

It's a lot worse, it's a lot worse.

That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

Roger is a short-hair guy.

Our boys... buzz cuts... Right? Their whole life.

Stop!

He needs to wash it more, condition it more,

and cut it into a style.

A mullet is a style.

A mullet is a bad style.

I don't know why you have chosen this.

I didn't choose it.

Mullet is great.

It's just... it's cool.

You're just hoping that my rebellion ends with long hair,

is what dad is aiming for, here.

Right, right, right, right.

Well, that's... that's a, um...

Pretty sensitive topic for me.

In fact, as I read it,

it, um, it's making me well up a little bit.

First of all, I was blessed with a wonderful...

Wonderful father.

And I was secondly blessed because of the relationship

between my father and parker.

And to think that parker had an opportunity

to be with my dad for the, gosh, 21 years...

Going on 21 years-plus...

Is unique and a wonderful experience.

I kind of like the role when grandfathers play

because it's rewarding, and sometimes it's frustrating.

As your father said to me,

"dad, let me make my own mistakes."

and I think you've got a lot of the same blood in you

that he has.

And I make a lot of my own mistakes.

Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of friends

that never got to meet their grandfather.

Right.

For me, whenever I start feeling down about it,

I just, like, "god, you're pretty damn lucky to have that."

love you.

Love you, too.

Bye-bye.

Bye, grandpa.

Bye-bye.

So, here's another viewer question, from dave f.

I have thought about this for a long time.

Two things.

He always had purpose, he always had a plan,

he always had something he was working toward... always.

And the second one was, he became the loving, open,

kinder, gentler, more mellow person as he aged

because he realized what was important.

The list is long.

Work ethic... You can talk about that.

You can talk about treatment of other people.

You know, you can talk about health...

Your personal health and well-being.

I can say, more than anything else,

to put it all into proper perspective,

he helped make me a more complete individual.

The john that we got to see in "gold rush"

was the very best john...

The culmination of over 90 years of learning.

And this is what he learned... The "I love you," "be safe,"

"I'll miss you," "family is everything."

give me a hug.

Nice to see you.

Well, I hope so.

Parker, all I got left is family.

Up next, parker breaks the news

of his latest venture.

I'm really anxious to see it.

Like, I want to see it.

And he and three friends set out into the wilderness

at the worst time of year.

We're not getting out of here in this boat.

We got to figure out an alternate route fast.

Winter is coming.

Before parker schnabel talks about his adventures

on the klondike trail,

he and his parents are taking viewer questions.

Here's a question from sheila s.

In looks, you bet.

It shows.

One thing that I can see that's a real similarity

is they're both quick learns.

My dad had the ability to...

He was a well-read person,

and he analyzed things quickly

and he put the puzzle together,

as far as what makes things tick,

very quickly, and very imaginative person.

And I see a lot of that in parker.

Inspired by his pioneering grandfather,

parker sets his sights on a grueling challenge...

Tackling the klondike trail at the absolute worst time of year.

You crazy fools.

What you doing, doing it this time of the year?

When did I tell you guys about this trek...

The gold rush trail? You... you...

You were thinking about it.

You mentioned it.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was just a casual,

off-the-cuff remark, probably.

And, you know, that's how a lot of ideas die.

It's just like they, you know, wither away, and nobody...

Like, "yeah, that's real funny."

like, "good for you, parker. Keep thinking."

and then it actually happened.

Right.

When I first told you guys, I certainly never thought it would happen.

That it was really gonna happen, yeah.

Right. Sure.

How many ideas have I told you guys, you know?

And we brushed it off, yeah.

Right, and I thought, "this is another really..."

and of all the ones...

I've had a lot of ones that involve a lot of warm weather.

And I really think I screwed up...

Screwed up, right.

Which ones worked out and which ones didn't.

The whole idea of parker going on this trip,

as it started, I didn't think it would happen,

so I didn't worry.

And then, when it became closer and closer to the reality

and he started, you know, filling up his backpack,

I said, "well, isn't there, like,

a whole lot of water you got to deal with?"

and he goes, "yeah."

I said, "so..."

You been on the water a lot?"

"no."

"you worried about that?" "no."

and I thought, "wow."

I'm not sure that he...

"Is fully anticipating all that's gonna happen."

you know, the hiking?

Okay.

But all that time on the water, cold...

And so it's like I'm... I'm really anxious to see it.

Like, I want to see it.

To give us a preview of their upcoming miniseries,

"Parker's trail,"

wilderness guide karla ann, filmmaker james levelle,

and gold miners rick ness and parker schnabel

are ready to talk about their journey.

I'm stoked.

Even if they can't agree on much...

I hate all three of these people.

I'm sick of their voices.

They're in the studio for one reason...

Together again.

The four idiots.

To give a behind-the-scenes look

into their latest adventure...

A punishing 600-mile journey into the wilds of the klondike.

Goodbye, haines.

Whether we like it or not, here we go.

Each person brings a different set of skills...

And the group's success hinges on thing... teamwork.

We've got the best teamwork.

It's silent.

You know, the thing about the four of us is, we're...

All four of us are used to being in control of the situation

that we're in, right?

Rick was running a gold mine.

I'm running a gold mine.

And you know, karla does hunts

and guides snowboarding

and does a lot of stuff that she is in control of.

So, I did a lot of trips with my family as a kid,

and we were always cooking over a fire

and doing multiday canoe trips and camp trips.

And, yeah, I've been working in the bush in the yukon

for the last seven years.

I just originally wanted to get away from the city

and get back into the woods.

I picked up a job as, like, a wilderness guide

and some jobs doing construction.

That's kind of how I got tied up in parker.

I needed a couple months of work,

and the rock truck was calling my name.

I'm excited to get back.

It's quiet there.

And then same with james.

James makes films and needs to be in control as he can be.

I'm a filmmaker, and on this journey,

it's my responsibility, essentially,

to capture the whole crazy adventure on camera

at the same time that I've got...

I'm actually a part of it, as well.

So it's a hell of a challenge,

doing two jobs at the same time, but I live for that.

And so you put all four of us together,

and that's a lot of personalities

and that's a lot of people that are used to being in control

that... Now that, you know, really,

we all have to share that, right?

And we all have to make decisions together,

which I love.

You know, there's a lot of reasons why I wanted to do this trip.

Let's do it.

Something new and different kind of challenge.

And for me personally, it's a big testament

to my grandpa and what he did, coming up to alaska.

The adventure begins, boys.

Yeah.

My great-grandfather came from sweden

and was a part of the gold rush.

So I think, for me, it was just...

It's just in my blood.

And he biked there.

Yeah, he did a couple different trips.

He biked, he tried sled dogs.

Like, on the frozen river.

Yeah, he did a couple of different wild things, and...

Don't downplay it so much.

That's so awesome.

Yeah, I know, he was a pretty badass dude.

You just can't let the weather get to you.

You can't.

It sounded like a mad, crazy, fantastic idea,

and I was like, "yeah, count me in."

and then I heard nothing for months,

until suddenly, there was a phone call.

And it's like, "we're doing it, so get on the plane."

What I'm worried about is the weather.

We are going at the worst time of year

and need to be prepared for anything and everything.

I've been saying for years now that I need

to get out of my comfort zone and do some new things.

So, that wasn't what I was thinking about,

is this kind of trip,

but yeah, the opportunity was there, so why not?

It fits the bill.

Further? How much

shut up.

I remember you saying you were scared

that we weren't taking it serious.

Totally. The whole... yeah.

This is rick's prep.

We're all unpacking and repacking,

and rick is sitting here pounding beers.

Yep.

I'm just... I'm used to being professional about it, like,

you know, like, "let's get this done, and let's..."

I think you know by now

that this is not anything professional.

Part of the experience is not being prepared, right?

The accountants that quit their job 120 years ago

to go be a part of the gold rush

didn't spend months planning it.

They're like, "that dude has gold from way up there."

I'm getting on a boat and I'm going up there."

yes.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

I knew it was gonna be cold,

I knew it was gonna be tough.

But every time I've been filming in the cold before,

I'd have a hotel to go back to, usually,

or a car you could warm up.

This was gonna be...

This was gonna be something else.

You know, no escape.

Parker's idea is simple...

To retrace the route

taken by the original klondike gold miners.

In 1896, a handful of prospectors

in the remotest parts of the klondike struck it rich.

Word got to seattle and san francisco,

and after that, it sparked this...

The biggest gold rush in history.

And 100,000 people set off,

and it was just, like, mayhem.

Of the 100,000 that set off,

I think only 30,000 made it to dawson city.

The first to arrive

would be able to stake out the richest claims,

but two out of every three either died

or gave up along the way.

The fastest route was also the roughest.

It was straight over a mountain range,

through the chilkoot pass,

then another 550 miles of hiking and canoeing.

My initial thought once we started on this

was that, "no matter how seriously we take this",

we're only gonna get a glimpse at what it was really like

for them back then"...

Because they just...

You know, the packs they had weren't like our packs.

You know, the clothes they wore weren't like our clothes.

And the winter that that was all happening...

The winter of '97... I think it snowed like 35 feet.

I think, for me especially,

I was like, "holy... These were some tough dudes."

yeah. And women.

Yeah.

Hoo, hoo, hoo!

Coming up, the four stampeders reach the breaking point.

Yeah, this is madness.

Didn't realize that you were gonna try to break your leg

every step.

And they come clean about each other.

Rick.

Deep, dark snores.

Four friends embark on the adventure of their lives.

And now we're getting a sneak peek

into a groundbreaking tv event,

inspired by parker's grandpa john.

Wicked.

They retrace the footsteps

of the klondike gold rush miners.

Unreal, the that these old-timers went through.

In 1897, prospectors faced long odds,

just like parker and his team.

A third or less made it to dawson.

That's not very good odds.

But that means a third did make it, too.

The four are heading into

one of the most hostile environments on earth...

A land of towering mountains and freezing rivers.

It's the domain of moose, bears, and wolves,

where temperatures plunge to 60 degrees below zero in winter.

Probably my biggest concern is somebody getting hurt,

because that puts everything in a dead stop.

If somebody gets hurt,

it's a whole different ballgame, right?

Don't go that way.

This is so dangerous.

And that's serious, especially up there,

where no matter how hard

you wanted to get somebody that was hurt out,

you can't do it.

A lot of times, you just can't do it,

and that's a very serious concern,

especially for me,

because I feel like it's kind of my responsibility, right?

I take that on as...

As something I did wrong, if somebody got hurt.

That's serious up there.

You know, from hurt to killed is pretty quick.

The trek into the klondike is treacherous,

especially with winter setting in.

And the four can't avoid the deadliest stage

of the entire trip... The chilkoot pass.

The last half-mile is an almost impossible 45-degree slope.

In the gold rush, this was where the dream

of getting rich hit an unyielding wall.

Climber practically had to crawl up the last stage,

which they called the golden stairs.

Thousands gave up at this stage

or died trying to make it over the top.

Sometimes the details... I mean, the golden stairs,

you know, it's the epic image of the gold rush... right?

That kind of line of ants making its way up the 45-degree slope,

lugging all their gear.

I mean, it's iconic.

It's crazy.

I mean, I think about the golden stairs,

and I'm just like,

"okay, that's where I'm gonna tap out or die."

'cause, I mean, I'm 255 pounds.

What business do I have climbing a mountain,

especially with a huge backpack on my back?

That's all I could think.

You're a whole todd hoffman with the backpack on.

Yeah, might be.

Not every challenge on the trail is a matter of life and death.

Just getting along can be a trial.

It's gonna be a long month, boys.

So, we get these four friends to explain what it's like

to share a tent in the frozen north.

Smelled the worst?

Um...

Parker.

Parker was the smelliest.

Parker is the smelliest on any trip,

so that's an easy one.

Nobody really stank, but karla ripped a lot of farts.

Rick, without a shadow of a doubt.

Rick is a snoring machine.

- Hands down. - No doubt?

Yeah, deep, dark snores.

Rick, no doubt.

No-brainer right there.

Karla farted about once every 3 1/2 minutes.

Karla farted nonstop.

Karla had the worst gas, by a long way, yeah.

And giggled about it.

Me.

That's parker, easily.

I think we all appreciated the country-chic haircut

he was given by karla at the beginning of the trip.

This is carlos' cuts... 5 minutes, 5 bucks.

Holy cow.

It sounds like you're cutting my whole head off.

It's called layering. I'm layering.

Yeah, it didn't do much for his morning look.

That's country chic. All right.

We all have great hair.

You look good, buddy.

Tell me the truth. Is it terrible?

Coming up, we get a sneak peek into the series

as the ice closes in...

The current is ripping under the shelf ice.

And the trek turns deadly.

Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

On the trail, communication is key.

- Engage your butt, rick. - Yeah.

But things get confusing when james speaks english english

despite my bollocks ramblings.

Bloody hell.

Well, I have a habit of speaking, I suppose,

a language that the guys, um, find slightly ridiculous.

We have multiple meanings for our wonderful words.

A banger is not only an old car, it is also a sausage, obviously.

"Chuffed"?

That's what I like to try and be as much of the time as possible.

It means "happy, pleased, delighted."

I'm super chuffed to be here, filming with you guys right now.

"Barmy"? "Mad," "completely bonkers," like us lot.

It's charming for about five minutes.

I mean, I know what I'm talking about.

For parker and rick,

the mining season goes on right up until the ground freezes.

So when they finally get time

to hit the trail in their upcoming miniseries,

it's already November.

Crazy fools, what you doing, doing it this time of the year?

The weather will go from bad to worse.

We have a narrow window with the weather.

At this time of the year, you know,

the weather is unpredictable, at best.

You know, it could go either way.

It is not the time of year for a canoe trip, essentially.

No.

Um...

Never say "never."

yeah, but, I mean, you know, the freeze is coming.

You just have to push as fast as you can

because you just don't know when the ice is gonna strike.

But when it does, you're dead. It's all over.

I had a pretty good feeling we'd run into ice,

but not this soon. This is bad.

But, you know, we've come this far,

we got to keep going.

We hike over a mountain,

we paddle across all them stupid lakes,

we finally get some miles started on the river,

and we get this

it's weird walking the trail

and doing the boat trip and floating down the river,

and knowing just how many people have done that

and lost their lives.

Yeah.

It was a brutal thing that they all went through.

And there's sections of the lakes and the rivers

and all that that are...

You know, it's serious.

Hundreds died along the route,

buried in avalanches, drowned in the rivers,

and struck down by frostbite and hypothermia.

We asked dr. David townes, an expert in adventure medicine,

to explain what can happen to the four friends

on the klondike trail.

I think as parker and his team

retrace the route of the klondike gold miners,

there are quite a few dangers,

the big ones being hypothermia, because of the extreme cold.

As the body starts to cool,

the first reaction is, everything sort of revs up.

You can feel your heart sort of thumping in your chest.

And then, as you cool even further, you start to shiver.

And shivering is your body's way of trying to generate heat.

When you get down into 88 degrees or so,

shivering will stop.

The body is no longer able to shiver and generate heat.

I really think that we should get out of our cold gear

and sit in our tents.

The body gets down to about 65 degrees,

you die, essentially, from cardiac arrest.

Being wet and cold like this for that long

and sleeping in a wet tent in a wet sleeping bag

colder and colder, as the temperature just gets

um, I don't know if I got it in me.

There's always the risk of avalanches in that area.

It's snowing up there right now,

and fresh-snow avalanches are the most dangerous kind.

That's a little bit sobering.

I am not gonna die on this trip.

The water is very cold,

so if you fall in one of these rivers,

your chance of drowning is fairly significant.

Not only do you have to worry about submersion in water,

but being hypothermic in that cold changes your judgment.

Your judgment is not as good.

Brace yourselves!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Once you start kind of losing it a bit,

that's when things get a bit dangerous

and you make the wrong decisions.

And making exhausted decisions

kind of leads to trouble sometimes, so...

You just gonna leave us over there

sitting on the beach while you're supposed to...

I just walked over here. I just walked over here.

Tried to find you guys.

We're all over there! Over where?

Right where your boat is.

How the was I supposed to know?!

You know, we know the stories of the old-timers, you know?

That's what you're up against.

This is no-nonsense weather.

This is serious winter.

And you know it's coming.

The question is, "when is it coming?"

and when it comes, it's game over.

We are not going anywhere near that bank.

The current is ripping under the shelf ice.

Trying to get pulled downstream... look out!

Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

As impossible as the trek north will be,

modern gear will be lighter, warmer, and more waterproof

than anything from the 1890s.

So, before next week's deadly journey,

we're wrapping things up on a lighter note...

With a sampling of the original stampeders' survival duds.

Yeah, look at that.

Rick, this could be for you... This puppy.

How do I look? Great.

I'm not feeling these pants.

All right, we need rick.

Yeah.

All right.

All right, who's up?

I broke the cork.

Inspired by parker's grandfather

and all the pioneers who came before them,

four friends take on the toughest journey of their lives.

Yeah, this is madness.

James, look out!

It's a brutal 600 miles...

I can't see.

And winter is closing in.

Rick, draw left! Rick, draw...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Whoa!

We cannot get stuck here.

There's no plan "b."

Like so many others who died or quit,

will they come up short?

Watch out, watch out!

Or can they reach the end...

Parker's trail"?

Captions by vitac... www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications