Parker throws down a huge engineering challenge to his team; Rick decides to make a major upgrade to his operation; Mike and Monica Beets team up to open more ground.

Rick and his father fly into the mountains on a treasure hunt for massive nuggets; Tony and Monica investigate a gold hot spot the old dredges may have missed; Parker makes a decision about his crew that could determine the fate of his season.

Fred and Dustin Hurt are back for a new season of "Gold Rush: White Water."

Parker second guesses the ground he's mining and questions his new foremen; Tony Beets makes a big decision to move the family's entire operation; Rick's mechanic arrives at a critical moment.

Oregonians stake everything on mining and head north to Alaska to dig for gold.

Oregonians stake everything on mining and head north to Alaska to dig for gold.

A crisis in the Klondike forces Parker, Rick and Tony to take massive gambles to strike it rich and hunt for gold on new grounds; the setback hits just as the price of gold spikes, sparking a new gold rush to the area.

Parker's quest to find the mother lode in Papua New Guinea sends him deep into the jungle where he joins locals in a sacrifice to appease the spirits; one final cleanup and gold weigh determines if he strikes it big in Kuta Village.

Rugged terrain pushes Parker's heavy machinery skills to their limit, forcing him to attempt one dangerous maneuver after another in his quest to open a legendary lost gold mine.

Driven to find a lost gold mine, Parker joins forces with the grandson of a legendary gold miner in search of a hidden El Dorado lost since World War II.

Parker navigates the volatile and lawless town surrounding Porgera, one of the world's largest and most profitable gold mines, as he and the team try to gain access to the huge gold pit.

Parker embarks on a quest to find better land for a local mining operation and races to build a custom piece of mining equipment that will limit exposure to a deadly chemical used to extract gold.

Parker bets millions on his crew sluicing in record time, but things don't go as planned; Rick rushes to fire up his wash plant and find big nuggets; a showdown on the Indian River sends a Klondike legend scrambling.

The flu brings Parker's operation to its knees, and it's up to foreman Dean to keep the claim running; Rick's mechanic, Carl, behaves strangely and reveals shocking news; Tony hits rock bottom as his entire operation grinds to a halt.

Rick Ness and his father, Rick Senior, battle together to open a new cut; Parker struggles with mechanical breakdowns, and a crew member suffers a terrible injury; Tony races to dismantle the final sections of his million-dollar dredge.

Parker's entire season hangs in the balance; Rick is bringing in so little gold he starts running night shifts to catch up.

As torrential rains hit the Klondike, Parker and Rick battle to save their mining operations from being flooded out; Tony sends son Mike on his first voyage as captain of his tug, the Kid Commando.

While on target for an $8.4-million-dollar season, Parker's wash plant catches fire; Rick and his crew finish strong; Tony heads into the wilderness to find lost equipment and attempts to get his ancient dredge up and running.

Rick and crew fight to get as much gold as possible before they're shut down; Tony races to finish his second dredge; Parker makes the riskiest move of the season.

Parker's parents visit and offer help; Rick battles to reach 1,000 ounces before the weather freezes him out; shocking news forces Tony to make a drastic decision about his season.

An extended sneak peek of the new season of "Gold Rush" reveals a crisis in the Klondike forcing the miners in new directions; a look at pivotal moments from the past nine years that led each man to the crossroads they now face.

Back where their gold-mining adventures began, "Gold Rush" alumni Dakota Fred and son Justin persevere in the face of long odds, risking their lives for a fortune they may never realize. Assisted by a team of intrepid divers, mountaineers and bush mechanics, the Dakota Boys explore the white water rapids of McKinley Creek in Alaska, diving deep in raging torrents with a suction dredge. Not only could one wrong move prove deadly, but the guys also face wild animals, extreme temperatures and hypothermia.

The gold rush in Alaska isn't confined to the state's precious ground. It's taking place on the sea ... or more accurately, on the bottom of the frigid Bering Sea. This series, from the creators of the Emmy-winning "Deadliest Catch," follows four gold dredges and their eccentric and driven crews who risk their lives to find as much gold as possible before winter sets in and it's too dangerous to dive. The custom-built rigs, some barely seaworthy, include an 80-foot barge run by the most successful gold dredger in Nome, Alaska, and a modified skiff that seats only two people.

"Yukon Gold" follows four gold-mining crews who have merely four months in Canada's wild Yukon to earn a big payday. Fighting an impossibly short mining season and with their savings on the line, they work against difficulties to dig the precious ore out of the ground. The crews battle mechanical breakdowns, the elements and 18-hour days under the midnight sun -- all because of gold fever -- and it keeps them coming back year after year for another chance to wager it all.

"Alaskan Bush People" is a reality-documentary series that introduces the Brown family -- Billy, wife Ami and their seven grown children who -- according to Discovery -- are interesting because "they are unlike any other family in America." The channel says they are so far removed from civilization that they often go six to nine months each year without seeing an outsider. They refer to themselves as a "wolf pack" and, perhaps due to isolation, have their own accent and dialect. The Browns live in the Copper River Valley, where temperatures can drop to 60 degrees below zero, and the family recently relocated and built a cabin there because, they say, their former home of many years was seized and burned down for being in the wrong location on public land.

Tradition collides with transformation in McCarthy, Alaska. The isolated town -- once considered to be the state's version of "Sin City" -- flourished during the Gold Rush but is now home to roughly 40 people, a mix of mavericks, risk takers and rabble rousers willing to brave extreme conditions to live free. While some believe in continuing the town's frontier way of life, others feel the future of McCarthy depends on dragging it into the modern age. Long-standing resident Jeremy Keller fights to protect its roots, while Neil Darish has purchased multiple properties in town and plans to restore its vibrancy. "Edge of Alaska" tells the story of a hinterland at a crossroads.

The breathtaking beauty of Alaska sometimes hides the fact its winters can be incredibly harsh, especially for those who live in the state's outlying areas. "Alaska: The Last Frontier" perfectly illustrates this reality, as the series profiles life for the Kilcher family in the isolated community of Homer. For four generations the Kilchers have lived off what their 600-acre homestead has provided, but cultivating that living is never easy. Led by patriarch Atz Kilcher and his brother Otto, the family spends the short summer and fall gardening, hunting and fishing for food, gathering supplies from the land and preparing their animals for the winter. Viewers, who may or may not have a fancy phone by their side while watching on their big-screen high-def TV, also see the Kilchers living off the grid, where running water and electricity aren't daily staples, nor is contact with the outside world. Atz, by the way, is the father of music superstar Jewel.

Before complaining about the market price of Alaska king crab, check out this gripping documentary series, revealing the mortal perils and intense discomfort that fishing crews face on the Bering Sea to catch the delicacy. Those perils include 40-foot waves, 700-pound crab pots that can easily crush a careless crewman, and freezing temperatures around the clock.

In Discovery Channel's top-rated show "Gold Rush," gold miners, inexperienced as some may be, hope to strike it rich in the wilds of Alaska and beyond. Some dismal summers result, filled with injuries, malfunctioning equipment and constant fighting among the greenhorn miners, yet serious cases of gold fever always trump any talk of giving up and sometimes leads to dreams being salvaged. The companions series "The Dirt" presents the inside scoop on behind-the-scenes relationships between such miners as brash youngster Parker Schnabel and longtime Yukon resident Tony Beets, as the quest to hit the mother lode never stops.