Charles 'Thor' Willis is one of eight children and worked a fulltime job by the time he was 10 years old.. When not at work or in school, he would be in the woods, backpacking or in a canoe. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, receiving four meritorious promotions to the rank of Sergeant, and letters of commendation for his work as a marksmanship instructor before he was 20 years old.. After an honorable discharge, he spent two years doing missionary work before earning a bachelor’s in finance. He received eight academic scholarships, graduating debt free.

He has explored the lower forty-eight, Alaska, canoed Algonquin Park in Canada, nine countries in Africa including three safaris, lived in the orient for a year, hiked New Zealand, traveled the Caribbean, central America, Europe, the Mediterranean, hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, hiked across the Iberian Peninsula, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and paddled on the Northern Forest Canoe trail. 

Along with his pet wolf, and going by his mountain-man name, Thor, he has been reenacting the pre-1840 time period of the western fur trappers for over twenty-five years. His historical knowledge and authentic weapons and gear proved indispensable to the production of the award winning movie, Green Flake where he built sets, provided most of the handmade props from his personal collection and won awards for production design. It was on this movie set that he made lasting friendships with many people including Sohrab Mirmont.