Eric Karlstrom (a.k.a Eric THOR Karlstrom) has spent a lot of his life pursuing his favorite activities, namely: 1) playing and composing music for guitar, banjo, vocals, and piano, and 2) mountain and rock climbing, cross-country skiing, hiking, etc. He grew up in Arlington, Virginia and then moved to Flagstaff, Arizona during high school. Since then, he has lived and pursued his avocations (and his academic career) all over the West; in Wyoming, Alberta, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, and California. Before beginning his academic career, he worked as a fire fighter, a boatman, a sheepherder on the Navajo Reservation, and a high school teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Rough Rock, Arizona. Then, he obtained masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Wyoming and the University of Calgary, Alberta, and took positions as a professor of geography at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, The University of Kansas, and California State University, Stanislaus.

Eric began playing guitar during the “folk craze” of the 1960’s while still in junior high school in Virginia. Since then, he taught himself to play the piano and learned the banjo from some great pickers. Throughout his life, Eric has continued to write original songs and has intermittently performed solo and in a number of different bands and combos.. He has made some 12 CDs and tapes over the years and recently, has produced one DVD film: "An Awakening Journey: Songs and Voices from the Earth." Eric is currently teaching physical and environmental geography at California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California and residing part-time in Crestone, Colorado.