Shirley Ladd, a psychology major at the University of Maine, was hiking with a friend on Saturday morning when the accident happened.

She had just scaled a laddered section and was preparing to climb another set of rungs when she slipped from a rock shelf, falling to the trail below, the Morning Sentinel reported.

In an heroic rescue, crews used anchors and pulleys to haul her 250 feet to a med-vac helicopter. She was flown to a Bangor hospital where she later died from her injuries.

The New York Daily News reported on a Facebook tribute page, Ms Ladd's boyfriend, Dylan Tibbetts, described his devastation at losing the girl he "wanted to spend the rest of my life with".

"We had so many plans, and such a bright …future together. For whatever reason you have been taken from us I have no idea but it sucks. I wish you were here with me for 80 more years, not just the best 9+ months of my life.

"If you could come back and end this nightmare that would be amazing."