Tinker Knob is an 8,949-foot-elevation (2,728 meter) mountain summit in Placer County, California, United States.

It is situated on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with precipitation runoff from the peak draining west to North Fork American River and east to the Truckee River via Deep Creek and Cold Creek.

Topographic relief is modest as the summit rises 2,350 feet (720 meters) above North Fork American River in one mile.

[11] Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains.

As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range.