diff --git a/chain/chain/src/chain.rs b/chain/chain/src/chain.rs
index a371a3c65a1..1f011f7a1a6 100644
--- a/chain/chain/src/chain.rs
+++ b/chain/chain/src/chain.rs
@@ -768,7 +768,9 @@ impl Chain {
         // the block might not have been what the block producer originally produced. Either way, it's
         // OK if we miss some cases here because this is just an optimization to avoid reprocessing
         // known invalid blocks so the network recovers faster in case of any issues.
-        if error.is_bad_data() && !matches!(error, Error::InvalidSignature) {
+        if error.is_bad_data()
+            && !matches!(error, Error::InvalidSignature | Error::InvalidBlockHeight(_))
+        {
             metrics::NUM_INVALID_BLOCKS.with_label_values(&[error.prometheus_label_value()]).inc();
             self.invalid_blocks.put(block_hash, ());
         }
diff --git a/chain/chain/src/garbage_collection.rs b/chain/chain/src/garbage_collection.rs
index 58dc584b615..0f4088e77bc 100644
--- a/chain/chain/src/garbage_collection.rs
+++ b/chain/chain/src/garbage_collection.rs
@@ -141,6 +141,10 @@ impl ChainStore {
         let _span = tracing::debug_span!(target: "garbage_collection", "clear_data").entered();
         let tries = runtime_adapter.get_tries();
         let head = self.head()?;
+        if head.height == self.get_genesis_height() {
+            // Nothing to do if head is at genesis. Return early because some of the later queries would fail.
+            return Ok(());
+        }
         let tail = self.tail()?;
         let gc_stop_height = runtime_adapter.get_gc_stop_height(&head.last_block_hash);
         if gc_stop_height > head.height {