Obviously this person was not very good about informing others of his plans, which is not inherently illegal and is not required by park regs.

I have to laugh about the "rough" trail. Compared to the Bright Angel and the Supai, which are highly maintained because they get an enormous amount of traffic, the Hance trail is indeed rough. But compared to the typical back country trail, it is fairly routine.
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Geezer in Chief