When it rains in Death Valley, a thin pool of water spreads out and is collected on the salt flats acting as a giant mirror that reflects the mountains and the sky. We had heard about this phenomenon before, most notably at Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and so, upon learning it had just rained at Death Valley earlier in the week, we immediately decided to drive there for the Martin Luther King long weekend; it very rarely rains in Death Valley.

When we first arrived there, we were concerned that it did not rain enough for any large pools to have formed, or that the water had already evaporated. Thankfully, there was a fairly large pool collected in Badwater Basin. And in the vast expanse of the desert, it very much looked like the entire surface of the world was a mirror.

We stayed there for a couple hours, watching and waiting as the orange glow from the setting sun infiltrated the afternoon blue sky - and the colors were doubly magnificent reflected on the ground.