iN VIDEO: Strange topography of Thompson River Valley captured by drone

A three-minute aerial video aptly captures the uniquely dry and desolate landscape that stretches out along the Thompson River between Kamloops and Cache Creek.

The video takes viewers for a gentle ride above the slate blue Thompson River while a long, snaking CP Rail train pulls its colourful carts through the barren landscape.

Set to a relaxing instrumental, the drone flies low along a flat rocky beach and then high to show a blue sky full of white, puffy clouds and the snow topped mountains in the distance.

The unique landscape is part of the bunchgrass zone, an area that is hot and drought prone with very few trees and lots of sagebrush.

This zone covers less than one per cent of the total area of the province and includes the Okanagan Valley from Summerland to the United States border, the Thompson River Valley from Kamloops to Spences Bridge, the Nicola River Valley and the Fraser and Chilcotin river valleys south of Riske Creek to north of Lillooet, according to this BC government webpage.

The zone occurs from the valley bottoms up to elevations of approximately 900 metres on the valley slopes and despite its barren appearance, supports a rich diversity of ecosystems, plants and wildlife.

This video was captured by Kamloops’s Will Hill of Hamartia Studio in March.