Gold Rush: White Water season six left Dustin’s crew so discouraged that they did not even weigh their gold by the end of it all.
We have lamented the frustrating and disappointing season that ended up being Gold Rush: White Water season six plenty of times.
But with the show’s seventh season now winding down, it may be time to revisit the tragedy that was the previous season of the show.
Gold Rush: White Water season 6’s disappointing end
At the end of Gold Rush: White Water season six, Dustin admitted that it had been his “hardest year to date”.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly how much (or, should we say ‘how little’?) Dustin and his crew brought in for this season, as season six’s 18th episode ended without an official weigh-in.
But since this season’s crew experienced everything from flash floods to one of the biggest typhoons in Alaskan history, to a 50 ton widow-maker standing between them and the gold it is really no wonder that they packed it in without breaking out the scale.
After all, the crew knew that the “few ounces” that they did manage to collect and bring in this season was not even enough to cover the costs and would certainly not be enough to sustain them through the winter.
Gold Rush: White Water season 6 recapped
Gold Rush: White Water season six not only ended on a bad note – but it started on one as well. In fact, it took more than four episodes (which translated to 2 months in real time) for Dustin and his crews to see any gold flakes running through the dredges.
This slow start can be outlined as follows:
| Episode | Title | Highlight |
| Episode 1 | “Fortune Favors the Bold” | The crew gets creative to get all its gear to Nugget Creek |
| Episode 2 | “Into the Unknown” | The crew gets its gear set up |
| Episode 3 | “Airboat Accident” | Kayla dives for the first time, but the low visibility prevents them from bringing up any gold |
| Episode 4 | “Dakota Fred Takes Charge” | Fred Hurt returns to Nugget Creek to help the crew |
| Episode 5 | “Homemade Highway to Hell” | Kayla and her crew find pyrite |
| Episode 6 | “Fuelling the Pressure” | Dustin and his crew are elated that they are “almost ready” to start diving for gold |
| Episode 7 | “At War with a Widowmaker” | We see the first real gold come out of the dredges |
The Gold Rush: White Water season 6 drama
As if dangerous storms and huge boulders were not bad enough, it seems like the Gold Rush: White Water crew also had to deal with quite a bit of behind-the-scenes drama in season six.
Of course, viewers got to see some of this drama play out on-screen when both Dustin and Scott left the show at various points in the season.
Kayla actually went as far as citing, “unnecessary amounts of drama” as part of the reason why she did not return for another season.
So it seems like several squabbles or misunderstanding may have also contributed to the crew’s need to get out of dodge so quickly once the dredges were all packed up.
How these low returns have manifested in the new season
At the end of season six, Dustin was so down-in-the-dumps about their limited returns that he was worried that he would have to give up diving at Nugget Creek entirely.
However, like a true gold hound, Dustin did return for another season, albeit with much tighter purse-strings.
This time around, Dustin kept his operating costs as low as he possibly could by only managing one bare-bones crew (only comprising Dustin, Carlos, Wes, Paul and James) at the one Nugget Creek claim.
Fortunately, this back-to-basics approach seems to have paid out big time, this time around.
Gold Rush: White Water season 7 – the redemption
The Gold Rush: White Water crew is certainly used to pushing through horrible weather conditions and difficult dives.
But season six’s constant barrage of bad weather and equipment failures certainly pushed Dustin and his crew to their absolute limits.
Gold Rush: White Water season seven has also had its fair share of challenges. But the crew has absolutely hit rock bottom (in a very good way) and has been pulling up gold at an astounding pace.
The first weigh-in for season seven revealed that Dustin and his pared-down crew had collected almost two ounces of gold in just a few weeks.
And with the massive, record-breaking nuggets which are coming out of Nugget Creek in the most recent episodes, this season may just turn out to be one of Dustin’s most successful diving seasons ever.
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