Kåre Åsen was born in 1942 in Støfringsdalen, Norway. He grew up on a farm with his parents, four siblings, grandmother and farm animals. As a child, he attended a small local schoolhouse that had no running water or indoor plumbing. His daily life involved helping with chores on the farm like caring for animals in the winter and working in the fields during hay season in the summer. By his early teens, he and his friends would spend their free time fishing, hiking and building canoes.