What is an example of metaphor in the novel, All the Winters After?

The author uses the setting of Alaska as a metaphor for the wilderness of the human heart, and it becomes more pleasing to Kache as his own heart opens up to Nadia, he admires the gold leaves on the trees, “glowing with exaggerated promise, as if the hillside had flipped open to reveal layers and layers of shimmering treasure” (224). The canyon on the homestead's property is a physical representation of the chasm between Kache and his father Glenn. When he descends into it after Vladimir, and he sees his father's spirit there to guide him, he feels a reconciliation and finds the closure he so desperately needed.