The false summit is a mountain’s favorite joke. Laugh, drink some water, keep going.

Reaching what you thought was the top and finding more mountain behind it is demoralizing, and completely normal. The peak you could see was the only peak you could see; that was a limit of the view, not a lie anybody told you. Every long climb contains a few of these.

Expect at least one of them in whatever you are working toward, and name it in advance. When you hit one, stop for a minute, eat something, then keep going at the same pace. The real top is usually closer than it looks from there.