Like much of the Smokies crest, Tricorner Knob is on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. As its name implies, the mountain is at the point where the Balsam Mountains intersect the crest of the Great Smokies, creating a triangular-shaped ridge. Three counties intersect at the summit of Tricorner, with Sevier County, Tennessee to the west, Haywood County, North Carolina to the northeast, and Swain County, North Carolina to the southeast. The mountain rises appx. above its western base at the mouth of Buck Fork, along the Little Pigeon River. Tricorner is the 9th-highest mountain in Tennessee and the 27th-highest mountain in North Carolina.