The Steam Vents, Steaming Bluff, and Sulphur Banks area is the third stop on the Crater Rim Drive Tour. About .8 miles from the Kilauea Visitor Center are the Steam Vents. First seeping down to the hot volcanic rocks, ground water then returns back to the surface as steam. The area between Kilauea Caldera's outer cliffs and the caldera's edge is a plain without trees. The ground only a few feet below is too hot for tree roots to survive, however, shallow-rooted plants and grasses are able to grow in the area. Just a short walk from the parking area near the Steam Vents along a trail is Steaming Bluff. The bluff along the edge of the caldera is a meadow of grass with concentrated steam in fractures and ground cracks.
Crossing the street from the Steam Vents and Steaming Bluff parking area will bring visitors to the beginning of the trail leading to the Ha'akulamanu-Sulphur Banks. Thanks to some renovations in 2005, the banks are accessible to those using a wheelchair along a boardwalk and paved path. Volcanic gases mix with groundwater steam as they flow out of the ground at Sulphur Banks. These volcanic gases are abundant in sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Pure crystals are deposited by some of the sulfur gases at Ha'akulamanu-Sulphur Banks, while others create sulfuric acid. Lava is broken down into clay by the sulfuric acid. Iron oxide has stained the clay brown and red.