diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/options.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/options.ts
index 7c7cfcdde75b..bc2b73256272 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/options.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/options.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ export const defaultChainOptions: IChainOptions = {
   // batching too much may block the I/O thread so if useWorker=false, suggest this value to be 32
   // since this batch attestation work is designed to work with useWorker=true, make this the lowest value
   minSameMessageSignatureSetsToBatch: 2,
-  nHistoricalStates: false,
+  nHistoricalStates: true,
   nHistoricalStatesFileDataStore: false,
   maxBlockStates: DEFAULT_MAX_BLOCK_STATES,
   maxCPStateEpochsInMemory: DEFAULT_MAX_CP_STATE_EPOCHS_IN_MEMORY,
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/regen/regen.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/regen/regen.ts
index 08fda70d9184..7c663c6e0d3d 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/regen/regen.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/regen/regen.ts
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ export class StateRegenerator implements IStateRegeneratorInternal {
       blockPromises[i] = this.modules.db.block.get(fromHex(protoBlock.blockRoot));
     }
 
-    const logCtx = {stateRoot, replaySlots: replaySlots.join(",")};
+    const logCtx = {stateRoot, caller, replaySlots: replaySlots.join(",")};
     this.modules.logger.debug("Replaying blocks to get state", logCtx);
 
     const loadBlocksTimer = this.modules.metrics?.regenGetState.loadBlocks.startTimer({caller});
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/fifoBlockStateCache.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/fifoBlockStateCache.ts
index d38fc323174c..7766daf3c5b3 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/fifoBlockStateCache.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/fifoBlockStateCache.ts
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@ export type FIFOBlockStateCacheOpts = {
 };
 
 /**
- * Regen state if there's a reorg distance > 32 slots.
+ * Given `maxSkipSlots` = 32 and `DEFAULT_EARLIEST_PERMISSIBLE_SLOT_DISTANCE` = 32, lodestar doesn't need to
+ * reload states in order to process a gossip block.
+ *
+ * |-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
+ *                 maxSkipSlots                      DEFAULT_EARLIEST_PERMISSIBLE_SLOT_DISTANCE    ^
+ *                                                                                             clock slot
  */
-export const DEFAULT_MAX_BLOCK_STATES = 32;
+export const DEFAULT_MAX_BLOCK_STATES = 64;
 
 /**
  * New implementation of BlockStateCache that keeps the most recent n states consistently
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/persistentCheckpointsCache.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/persistentCheckpointsCache.ts
index 07c96f224bee..0719efcfd309 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/persistentCheckpointsCache.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/chain/stateCache/persistentCheckpointsCache.ts
@@ -53,10 +53,11 @@ type CacheItem = InMemoryCacheItem | PersistedCacheItem;
 type LoadedStateBytesData = {persistedKey: DatastoreKey; stateBytes: Uint8Array};
 
 /**
- * Before n-historical states, lodestar keeps mostly 3 states in memory with 1 finalized state
- * Since Jan 2024, lodestar stores the finalized state in disk and keeps up to 2 epochs in memory
+ * Before n-historical states, lodestar keeps all checkpoint states since finalized
+ * Since Sep 2024, lodestar stores 3 most recent checkpoint states in memory and the rest on disk. The finalized state
+ * may not be available in memory, and stay on disk instead.
  */
-export const DEFAULT_MAX_CP_STATE_EPOCHS_IN_MEMORY = 2;
+export const DEFAULT_MAX_CP_STATE_EPOCHS_IN_MEMORY = 3;
 
 /**
  * An implementation of CheckpointStateCache that keep up to n epoch checkpoint states in memory and persist the rest to disk
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/gossipHandlers.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/gossipHandlers.ts
index 9e6f08a803c1..8df9f7b78126 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/gossipHandlers.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/gossipHandlers.ts
@@ -144,6 +144,18 @@ function getDefaultHandlers(modules: ValidatorFnsModules, options: GossipHandler
     const blockInputMeta =
       config.getForkSeq(signedBlock.message.slot) >= ForkSeq.deneb ? blockInputRes.blockInputMeta : {};
 
+    const logCtx = {
+      slot: slot,
+      root: blockHex,
+      currentSlot: chain.clock.currentSlot,
+      peerId: peerIdStr,
+      delaySec,
+      ...blockInputMeta,
+      recvToValLatency,
+    };
+
+    logger.debug("Received gossip block", {...logCtx});
+
     try {
       await validateGossipBlock(config, chain, signedBlock, fork);
 
@@ -153,17 +165,7 @@ function getDefaultHandlers(modules: ValidatorFnsModules, options: GossipHandler
       metrics?.gossipBlock.gossipValidation.recvToValidation.observe(recvToValidation);
       metrics?.gossipBlock.gossipValidation.validationTime.observe(validationTime);
 
-      logger.debug("Received gossip block", {
-        slot: slot,
-        root: blockHex,
-        curentSlot: chain.clock.currentSlot,
-        peerId: peerIdStr,
-        delaySec,
-        ...blockInputMeta,
-        recvToValLatency,
-        recvToValidation,
-        validationTime,
-      });
+      logger.debug("Validated gossip block", {...logCtx, recvToValidation, validationTime});
 
       return blockInput;
     } catch (e) {