Tricorner Knob is a mountain in the
Great Smoky MountainsThe Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee-North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 6,120 feet (1,865 m), with 160 feet (48 m) of clean prominence.
http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7774 The
Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply The A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States, extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long. The path is maintained by thirty trail...
and Balsam Mountain Trail intersect near the mountain's summit, making Tricorner Knob the great crossroads of the Eastern Smokies.
Tricorner Knob is a mountain in the
Great Smoky MountainsThe Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee-North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 6,120 feet (1,865 m), with 160 feet (48 m) of clean prominence.
http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7774 The
Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply The A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States, extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long. The path is maintained by thirty trail...
and Balsam Mountain Trail intersect near the mountain's summit, making Tricorner Knob the great crossroads of the Eastern Smokies. The Tricorner Knob Shelter, which occupies a flat area on the mountain's southern slope, provides a key rest stop for Appalachian Trail thru-hikers.
Like much of the Smokies crest, Tricorner Knob is on the border between
TennesseeTennessee is a state located in the Southeastern United States. According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 6,214,888, an increase of nearly 9.5% since 2000. Tennessee is the 14th fastest growing state in the US and is ranked 17th by population. It is ranked 36th by total land area. In...
and
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. 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.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=35.69563&lon=-83.25408&size=m&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG Three counties intersect at the summit of Tricorner, with
Sevier CountySevier County is a U.S. county of the state of Tennessee, United States. Its population was 71,170 at the 2000 United States Census. It is included in the Sevierville, Tennessee, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN Combined Statistical...
, Tennessee to the west,
Haywood CountyHaywood County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Asheville, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 54,033. Its county seat and largest city is Waynesville.-History:...
, 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 RiverThe Little Pigeon River is a river located entirely within Sevier County, Tennessee.It rises from a series of streams which flow together on the dividing ridge between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina inside the boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The river is subdivided...
.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=35.69558&lon=-83.32379&datum=nad27&u=4&layer=DRG&size=m&s=50 Tricorner is the 9th-highest mountain in Tennessee and the 27th-highest mountain in North Carolina.
http://www.americasroof.com/6000.shtml
Tricorner Knob's remote situation in the dense
Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forestThe Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest is a type of montane coniferous forest that grows in the highest elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States...
of the Eastern Smokies has left it largely untouched by human history. Arnold Guyot measured its elevation on his survey of the crest of the Smokies in 1859, placing Tricorner's elevation at . Other than surveyors and the occasional naturalist, the mountain was devoid of human visitors until a segment of the Appalachian Trail was constructed across its western slope in 1935. An isolated spring on the mountain's southern slope was the key reason behind its selection for the back country campsite where the Tricorner Knob Shelter sits today. Laura Thornborough, a writer who visited the mountain in the late 1930s, called Tricorner Knob one of the last "true wilderness areas, where one can commune with nature and leave the cares of the world behind."
Access
Tricorner Knob can only be accessed via a lengthy hike. From the Cosby Campground (specifically behind Campsite B51), the
Snake Den Ridge TrailThe Snake Den Ridge Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Cocke County, Tennessee. Winding its way up the backbone-like crest of Snake Den Ridge, the trail connects the Cosby Campground to the Appalachian Trail and provides the quickest access to the high...
winds up the ridge to its junction with the Appalachian Trail. From this junction, Tricorner is away, with the trail first crossing the slopes of
Old BlackOld Black is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the SoutheasternUnited States. While often overshadowed by Mount Guyot, its higherneighbor to the south, Old Black is the 4th-highest mountain in...
and
Mount GuyotMount Guyot is a mountain in the eastern Great Smoky Mountains, located inthe southeastern United States. At above sea level, Guyot is the fourth-highestsummit in the eastern U.S., and the second-highest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...
. The Balsam Mountain Trail is a trail connecting the Appalachian Trail in the west with the
Benton MacKaye TrailThe Benton MacKaye Trail or BMT is a footpath nearly in length in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States and is blazed by a white diamond, 5" across by 7" tall...
to the east. The latter can be accessed via a sharp bend in Straight Fork Road, a rugged gravel road rising out of Cherokee, North Carolina. From this bend, Tricorner Knob is just over away. A section of the Appalachian Trail connects Tricorner Knob with
Newfound GapNewfound Gap is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses the gap, as does U.S...
in the Central Smokies.
The Tricorner Knob Shelter can accommodate 12 people.
http://home.nps.gov/applications/parks/grsm/ppdocuments/2002.pdf Overnight campers are required to get a permit from the park service. The shelter is approximately halfway between the Peck's Corner Shelter to the west and the Cosby Knob Shelter to the northeast.
External links