In 2010, Discovery Channel struck gold with Gold Rush (then Gold Rush: Alaska), a reality series focused on a number of family-run companies in the business of placer gold mining. Now, 15 years later, Gold Rush has seen the miner’s efforts expand to the Klondike, Yukon, Canada, Oregon, Colorado, and even Guyana, South America, with no less than eight spin-offs. One of those spin-offs, Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, features Parker Schnabel, far and away the most successful of the lot, having mined a total of over $13 million dollars worth of gold by the age of 24, and he and his crew hauling in $24 million in Season 14 of Gold Rush alone. So, what does Schnabel do with that kind of money?
In an interview with People, Gold Rush’s Schnabel, now 30, discloses what he has done with the millions he’s made. If you’re expecting he’s splurged on a gold-plated Ferrari, or on a mansion, or even Alaska itself (he is one of the Klondike’s largest landowners, after all), you’ll be very disappointed to know he hasn’t really splurged at all. “I don’t even own a house except for the one on the mine site, so it’s quite the opposite,” he says, “I’m living on a friend’s couch right now in LA. I’m not living here, but I’m just staying here for a few weeks. I don’t really spend much money on physical possessions or things like that.”
Instead, Schnabel chooses to spend his money on experiences he can share with loved ones. For example, Schnabel took his dad out to a World Series game (and presumably sprung for the hot dogs and beer). “If I’m going to spend money, it’s on a trip with friends,” he continues, “I try to take our crew, the mining crew, on a trip every year and do fun things. We went on a big hunting trip one year, another year we went to Vegas for three days.” Not that every experience has to be shared, with Schnabel going globe-trotting in the winters, including a three-week venture to London in 2023.
Family Comes First for ‘Gold Rush’s Schnabel
It’s almost impossible to believe that a young adult in possession of such wealth wouldn’t be spending it on worldly treasures, but as you can see, Schnabel isn’t typical. It’s a testament to the values Schnabel grew up with, in a family that he credits for much of his success, a family that worked hard every day. “I grew up in a family where my great-grandpa came to Alaska, my grandma joined him in 1937, my dad was born up here and all three of them were carving a life from scratch,” he says, explaining the environment in which he grew up, adding that his father, at the age of 69, still gets up and “goes to work every morning 4:30 in the morning.”
Schnabel is well-versed in his family’s history, reflecting on a summer he spent at the mine site with his grandfather. “He cooked dinner for me every night. Every night we would sit down and he spent basically, he had an unreal memory,” Schnabel remembers. During that summer, his grandfather gave a complete history from his first memory to the present day, adding, “It was one of the most special things.”
It also stands as one of Schnabel’s biggest regrets, that those memories were never recorded. That alone speaks volumes about Schnabel as a man. He has money that most of us can only dream about, yet the one thing he regrets is the one thing that money can’t buy: his past. Money is fleeting, and even a success story like Schnabel knows just how the winds of fortune can change, especially in Season 15 of Gold Rush, where Schnabel has suffered setback after setback. Regardless, he’s proven time and time again that a hard work ethic trumps luck every time, so don’t be surprised when Season 16 sees Schnabel padding his wallet just a little bit more.
