'Gold Rush: White Water' Season 3 Episode 12 sees Kayla's first dive and massive hauls of gold
Episode 11 of ‘Gold Rush: White Water’ season 3 saw 76-year-old ‘Dakota’ Fred Hurt and his crew’s luck change overnight after what has objectively been a bad season for them. At “Thunder Falls”, in a matter of two days, they had more than tripled the amount of gold they had found so far.
On the other side, at Dustin Hurt and his crew’s new spot “Rockfall Ravine”, things had been tough. The terrain was harsher than their previous spot and the equipment kept failing them. But ultimately, diver Carlos Minor found some sizable nuggets, making sure that their hopes were still up.
This week, episode 12 began at Dustin’s site. Despite the new wave of enthusiasm, the crew still had to go through a lot of roadblocks. For starters, the exhaust fumes from the dredge engine, trapped by the narrow ravine, kept getting diverted down the same pipeline that connected Carlos’ breathing tube. If they were to dive despite that, things could easily prove fatal. In fact, the little that he inhaled, Carlos was actually rendered out of commission for a while.
At “Thunder Falls”, there was a different kind of trouble brewing. Kayla Sheets, the only woman on any team, was going for her first dive of the season. As was evident all season long, she has had to face a lot of animosity from some crew members, especially her stepbrother Dustin and stepfather ‘Dakota’ Fred. Even right before the dive, ‘Dakota’ Fred vocalized his doubts on her mental capability to handle something this rough.
Despite some bumps in the beginning, however, Kayla managed to do just fine, proving her stepdad wrong. In fact, when they examined the dredge, they discovered that Kayla’s first dive had gotten them an impressive amount of gold. Paul Richardson’s subsequent dive, however, made the crew realize that the plunge-pool of gold they were hoping for at the site, was deeper than they had expected. Time was of the essence because frost would soon set on the Alaskan mountains, making it impossible for any further dives.
Back at “Rockfall Ravine”, the Dustin crew were really stumped when it came to dealing with the fumes. After several hours of moving heavy rocks and their equipment around, they managed to find a position where the fumes would get carried upwards by the winds. Once that was done, luck seemed to return. James Hamm, in his first dive in weeks, found a huge nugget of gold, perhaps, the biggest they had found this season. And the nuggets just kept coming in from then on.
After a day of dredging, ‘Dakota’ Fred decided that it was time they measured their haul. It was almost 12 ounces, worth at least $17,000. It was nowhere close to what Dustin and his crew had achieved so far, but it was a lot more than they had found the previous season.
‘Gold Rush: White Water’ Season 3 airs on the Discovery Channel every Friday, 10 pm ET.