Gold Rush Parkers Trail Season 4

I am a pretty big fan of the Gold Rush and Bering Sea Gold programs, and I have particularly enjoyed the evolution of Parker Schnabel. I know that these programs tend to be drama llama things with fake problems, made up situations, and careful editing to create a rendering of what may or may not have happened, but the overall attitude manages to come through. Parker has been a pretty good example of that idea of keeping trying and working your ass off.

Parker has been mining in the Yukon for a number of years now, and the season up there ends very early as the ground and water freeze and it’s game over. So after the season is over, he has embarked on some post-game adventures in the world of gold. Those adventures, named after the first season’s target, is called Parker’s Trail. He has followed an old gold route, tried mining in New Guinea and Guyana. These shows have often been sort of slagged off as extra content from a production company trying to milk an idea. Some of them have been pretty light on actual content, mostly 6 to 8 episodes and at least 1 or 2 of them each time being a bit of a throw away.

I didn’t go into watching Season 4 with much hope. I look at it as sort of a nice distraction and not much else, I didn’t expect much. However, season 4 of Parker’s Trail’s has actually impressed me, if only because it’s a season with some real content. First off, the players are different here, With David Osborne from his Yukon team, Dan Etheridge as the “camera man”, and the whole thing comes together with the addition of Australian Gold expert Tyler Mahoney. Tyler is the local expert, but is also young like Parker and is a fourth generation miner in her family. She’s also blond and pretty, and certainly catches Parker’s eye early on. There is a bit of a feeling that the two of them are sort of an item, but the show decided to not show that. I won’t be surprised to see here in Parker’s real life future.

What really has made this season go I guess is that not only are they on the move the entire time, going place to place around Australia, they are also getting a look at many different types of mining and methods that Parker (and the audience) generally don’t see often. That includes everything from hard rock mining to chemical leeching. The Australian miners and families have also proven to be mostly friendly, guff, and brutally honest, something that is totally enjoyable to watch.

While there have been a few setup pieces, such as the underwater mining in the natural spring. That was clearly created to get Tyler stripped down and into one of her company bathing suits, and also to give her and Parker some alone time. The whole camera man always being on camera is funny too, like we aren’t suppose to know that there is a whole other camera team following them around. But honestly, less of the mining and results have been forced and more of it has been light and educational at the same time.

For the first time in 4 seasons of doing this, they look to be hitting 10 episodes, and none of them are really filler. Each one has had plenty of new and interesting things to enjoy, Australia is huge and the terrain facinating.

I also have to say that I appreciate the idea that Parker is trying to branch out of find something to do with the other 6 plus months that the Yukon is frozen. It’s inspirational to see him grow his operations from the family funded start up to his current situation, and I hope for him that this all pans out.

Find out more about Parker’s Trail on IMDB