Franklin, Missouri was at the eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail. This was a starting point for many settlers heading west. Kit heard wonderful stories about the west from the mountain men returning to the East. Kit did not like making saddles. In August 1826, he ran away from home, and went west with the mountain men. They traveled over the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They reached their destination in November 1826. Kit passed the winter in Taos, New Mexico with Mathew Kinkead, a mountain man and neighbor from Missouri. Taos would become Carson's home.