Staked Plains

I'm looking at 1895 maps of both Texas and New Mexico, at an area called "Llano Estacado" or "Staked Plains," directly east of Roswell, NM.  I have read that this is a high plateau.  Would it have been too arduous a journey to cross the "Staked Plains" at this point  from, say, Gaines or Andrews Counties in Texas in 1891?  Wouldn't the better route have been to head south and then up the Pecos River?  I'm particularly wondering if this Staked Plains area was even used as a migration route.  Does anyone know?