The image was taken side of a road, on a drive thought desert leading to Death Valley west entrance. This particular year, we have plenty of rain to form little lakes throughout the 6+ hrs. drive to get to Death Valley, Furnace creek where we had book room for the night.
As we got closer to the Northwest entrance, the sun was low on the horizon and the sky was lit with amazing rays of colors that were casting a nice reflection in a newly formed lake on the side of the road.
Each minute was looking better and better, so finally I pulled over, got my trusty canon 5D with 24-105 mm zoom, composed the image and took this shot.