A summer trip to the great outdoors for one Colorado family has turned into a great big mess. 62-year-old Joseph Aita and others he was traveling with accidentally and unknowingly went off the beaten path at Yellowstone National Park, and now the Department of Justice is bringing the hammer down on him.

"If we had seen the sign or anybody warning us, you know ‘hey! hey! hey!’” Aita recalled. “But nothing that I saw gave me that immediate flag.”

(KJCT) - A Colorado Springs man will no longer be allowed inside a popular national park after entering a protected area ... Along with being banned from Yellowstone, he is sentenced five years of probation and a $3,000 fine.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - A man is sharing his story after receiving a several-year ban from Yellowstone National Park late last month after he and his family went off the trail over the summer. Joseph Aita, 62, was sentenced to seven days ...

A Colorado man was sentenced to jail and banned from Yellowstone National Park after officials say he walked off a designated trail and entered a protected area.

In Yellowstone National Park, signs everywhere tell hikers not to leave the boardwalk near thermal hot springs. But what could be the harm in straying just a little to get closer to these natural wonders?

A Colorado man was sentenced to seven days in jail for walking off a designated trail or boardwalk in a thermal area in Yellowstone National Park in July.