1 Samuel 15:12 (ESV)

12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”

Carmel was a small town in Judah (cf. Joshua 15:55; 1 Samuel 25:2), a convenient place for Saul to stop on his return from battle with the Amalekites.1