When you think of the name Schnabel, your brain probably goes straight to one image: a mud-caked Parker Schnabel shouting over the roar of a Volvo excavator in the Klondike. We’ve watched Parker grow from a lanky teenager into a mining titan with a net worth that makes most people's heads spin. But there’s a shadow figure in the family tree that fans always ask about.
His name is Payson Schnabel.
If you aren't a die-hard Gold Rush superfan, you might have missed him entirely. He’s the older brother. The one who didn't choose to have a camera crew follow him into the frozen dirt of the Yukon for fifteen years. While Parker was busy turning his college fund into a massive gold-mining empire, Payson was carving out a completely different, much quieter existence.
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The Career Path of Payson Schnabel
Honestly, people expect Payson to be some secret gold magnate or a high-level executive at Little Flake Mining. But the reality is way more grounded.
Payson Schnabel is a skilled carpenter.
Yeah, you read that right. While his younger brother is tearing up the earth to find literal buried treasure, Payson is more interested in building things from the ground up. He’s a tradesman through and through. It’s a job that requires a totally different kind of precision. Think about it: Parker moves thousands of tons of dirt to find a handful of gold. Payson measures things down to the millimeter to make sure a house doesn't fall down.
It’s an interesting family dynamic. Their grandfather, the legendary John Schnabel, was the one who really brought the family into the limelight with the Big Nugget Mine. But even John had roots in timber and construction before the gold fever fully took over. In a way, Payson is sticking closer to the "building" side of the family legacy while Parker took the "extracting" side and ran with it.
Does he still mine at all?
This is where it gets a little blurry for the casual viewer.
Payson hasn't completely abandoned the family business. He’s appeared on Gold Rush a handful of times—most notably back in Season 3 and Season 4. There was a pretty emotional episode called "Grandpa’s Last Wish" where John Schnabel actually convinced both Parker and Payson to work together at the Big Nugget Mine.
It was a rare moment of seeing the brothers side-by-side.
But even back then, it was clear. Payson wasn't bitten by the bug the same way Parker was. For Parker, mining is an obsession. For Payson, it seemed more like a family duty or a seasonal gig. Sources close to the family and various industry reports suggest that while he’s worked "behind the scenes" for the family’s real estate and property investments—specifically linked to the Big Nugget company—his day-to-day life isn't about sluice boxes and wash plants.
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Why isn't Payson on Gold Rush anymore?
Let’s be real: being on reality TV sucks for a lot of people.
The "Parker Schnabel" brand is massive. That comes with a level of scrutiny that most people wouldn't wish on their worst enemy. Every time Parker has a bad season or loses a piece of equipment, the internet has an opinion.
Payson chose privacy.
He’s roughly four years older than Parker (born around 1990), and he seems perfectly content letting his brother be the "face" of the Schnabel name. You won't find him chasing clout on Instagram or trying to launch a spin-off called Payson’s Path. He’s a guy who works with his hands, values his personal space, and likely enjoys the fact that he can walk into a hardware store without being mobbed for a selfie.
The Business Side of the Family
Even though he's a carpenter by trade, you can't be a Schnabel and not be involved in the business. Their father, Roger Schnabel, is a powerhouse in the Alaska construction and road-building world.
- Roger sold his company, Southeast Road Builders, back in 2018.
- The family still holds significant land in Haines, Alaska.
- Much of this land requires maintenance, development, and strategic management.
This is likely where Payson’s skills as a carpenter and his background in the family business intersect. He isn't just "some guy" with a hammer; he’s part of a multi-generational Alaskan family that owns a lot of dirt. Whether that dirt has gold in it or a house on top of it, he’s involved in the family's overall stability.
How the Brothers Compare
It’s easy to look at Parker’s $10 million+ net worth and think he’s the "successful" one. But success is a weird metric in the Yukon.
Parker lives on a friend's couch in LA during the off-season or stays in a trailer at the mine site. He’s admitted in interviews that he doesn't really "own" much in terms of a traditional home because his life is the mine.
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Payson, on the other hand, has built a life that is... well, a life. He has a trade that travels anywhere. He has his privacy. He has a connection to the family history without being a slave to the Discovery Channel's filming schedule.
Basically, they are two sides of the same Alaskan coin.
What You Can Learn from the Schnabels
The biggest takeaway here is that you don't have to follow the "famous" path to be a vital part of a legacy.
If you're looking for Payson Schnabel's latest gold count, you're going to be disappointed. But if you're looking for an example of someone who stayed true to a practical trade despite the lure of television fame, he’s your guy.
If you want to keep up with the family's latest moves, your best bet is to watch the credits of the family’s various business filings in Alaska rather than the Discovery Go app. Payson is doing just fine, likely building something that will last a lot longer than a season of television.
To stay informed on the mining side, keep an eye on Parker's official social media for updates on the 2026 season, as he's currently pushing more into energy-efficient mining tech—a far cry from the old-school carpentry his brother prefers.