Hiker, 23, missing after texting friend he had reached top of mountain on solo trip

A 23-year-old hiker is missing after texting his friend he had successfully reached the peak of a mountain.

Lucas Macaj, of Colorado Springs was hiking in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park where he appeared to have summited Longs Peak on Sunday, according to messages sent to a friend. Macaj was expected to return late onSunday, however has not made any further contact with loved ones.

His last message sent to a friend came at around 1pm on Sunday where he texted a friend that he was on the summit of the peak before his car was later found at the Longs Peak Trailhead on Monday morning, reports abc news. A weather tracker for the Rocky Mountain National Park said storms had passed through the regional on Sunday.

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It's believed Macaj embarked on his hike wearing a dark-colored top, tan or brown pants, khaki-colored boots and a black backpack. He is about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs around 155 pounds. Search and rescue team teams are on the ground and in the air.

This week Californian authorities recovered the bodies of 28-year-old Andrew Niziol and 29-year-old Patty Bolan from the 14,500ft-tall Mount Whitney yesterday, Tulare County Sheriff's Office officials told local media. The couple were reported missing on Tuesday after they had gone hiking in the mountains but failed to report back to their camp, Upper Boy Scout Lake, which is east of the peak.

Andrew, who was from South Lake Tahoe, and Patty, who had just completed her doctoral studies in physics at UC Davis had told their fellow campers that they were aiming to climb up to the Notch, which is a flat point on the mountain often used to rest, and then ski back down.

The couple were on a long-term hiking trip across California and were intending to climb Mount Whitney as the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. A friend of theirs, Ethan Michael Cannaert, said he had been climbing with Andrew and Patty the day before they went missing, but they had got separated on a very steep and icy part of the mountain.

Ethan said he expected to run into the couple again at the Notch. He described them as both being "experienced in the backcountry" and said they had "adequate gear for the climb". Writing in a Facebook group about Mount Whitney, Ethan said: "I waited there for over an hour and was forced to move down the chute to escape the cold wind, but never saw them."