Here is the actual image of the remote location:

It is a wooden walkway on a small trail in the Hanging Rock State Park near Danbury, NC. The reason for the walkway is that the area is rather swampy area that is connected to a lake with a nice sandy "beach" for swimming in the summer. The time of day was indeed just before sunset. I took another picture soon after of the sun setting over the lake!
So, definitely Aardvark has the most "hits" here:
1. The idea of this being near a lake
2. Sunset
3. VERY little water movement in and around the lake
4. The orange of the lightbeams coming straight off the sun in the middle of his sketch resembles the symmetry of the wooden walkway in the location image.
Very good job!
BryanB has hit a couple of things while being totally wrong on the lack of water and addiction of cacti:
1. The presence of loose sand nearby (this one is a stretch)
2. A bad odor in the air. Where I'm standing yes, there was a smell of rotting organic matter/crap.
3. Large rock dominating the scene. This one is a biggie. This is indeed Hanging Rock and the huge, overhanging, shelf-like "rock" itself can be seen from most locations within the park.
RealNC: I apologize for the lack of anime or boobs.