Missing Hiker Said He Had to Be 'Back With Mother Earth'

It's been a week since 21-year-old San Antonio native Drake Kramer was spotted at the Bright Angel Lodge on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Last Monday, the avid hiker and aspiring geologist texted his father that he was at the Grand Canyon and "needed to be back with Mother Earth and set his soul free," his father tells ABC News; then he disappeared. "At that point we really started getting worried and started calling and trying to get people to look for him," his dad says. Kramer had visited the area with his aunt, and he posted "wish I could stay" on Facebook. "We're focusing on the positive by trying to believe that him saying he needed to be with Mother Earth and set his soul free that he was talking about being out in nature and being one with nature," says his dad.

Because a week has gone by with no clues, efforts are now being scaled back to rangers and pilots looking for clues when they're in the area, reports San Antonio Express-News. Kramer is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 140 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen in blue jeans and an olive-green sweatshirt. "We don't know what his plans were. He may be hiking, we just don't know," says a Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman. (A group of 15 hikers was found in California's wilderness just last fall.)