diff --git a/src/levanter/checkpoint.py b/src/levanter/checkpoint.py
index ba684b8e5..1b8b7a632 100644
--- a/src/levanter/checkpoint.py
+++ b/src/levanter/checkpoint.py
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ def on_step(self, info, force: bool = False):
             if not force:
                 return  # don't save checkpoint at step 0 unless forced
 
-        if step == self._last_save_step:
+        if step == self._last_save_step and not force:
             # we've already saved a checkpoint at this step
             return
 
diff --git a/src/levanter/tensorstore_serialization.py b/src/levanter/tensorstore_serialization.py
index 674a1cfa9..82471e5df 100644
--- a/src/levanter/tensorstore_serialization.py
+++ b/src/levanter/tensorstore_serialization.py
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 # * Orbax: https://github.com/google/orbax/blob/11d2934ecfff77e86b5e07d0fef02b67eff4511b/orbax/checkpoint/pytree_checkpoint_handler.py#L312
 import logging
 import os
+from dataclasses import dataclass
 from functools import partial
-from typing import Callable, Optional
+from typing import Any, Callable, Optional
 
 import equinox
 import jax
@@ -43,11 +44,22 @@ def tree_serialize_leaves_tensorstore(
         manager_was_none = False
 
     leaf_key_paths = jax_utils.leaf_key_paths(pytree, is_leaf=is_named_array)
+    assert len(jax.tree.leaves(leaf_key_paths, is_leaf=is_named_array)) == len(
+        jax.tree.leaves(pytree, is_leaf=is_named_array)
+    )
 
     paths = _fs_paths_from_key_paths(checkpoint_dir, leaf_key_paths)
-    paths = jtu.tree_leaves(paths, is_leaf=lambda x: x is None)
-    leaves = jtu.tree_leaves(pytree, is_leaf=lambda x: x is None)
-    assert len(leaves) == len(paths)
+
+    # make a dataclass since tuples are pytrees
+    @dataclass
+    class Pair:
+        path: str
+        leaf: Any
+
+    zipped = jax.tree.map(lambda x, y: Pair(x, y), paths, pytree, is_leaf=lambda x: x is None)
+    paired_leaves = jax.tree.leaves(zipped)
+    paths = [p.path for p in paired_leaves]
+    leaves = [p.leaf.array if is_named_array(p.leaf) else p.leaf for p in paired_leaves]
 
     # ok, not all of these are arrays, but we'll deal with that in the async function
     def _ensure_is_array(x):
diff --git a/src/levanter/utils/jax_utils.py b/src/levanter/utils/jax_utils.py
index 39fbf438c..734ec930c 100644
--- a/src/levanter/utils/jax_utils.py
+++ b/src/levanter/utils/jax_utils.py
@@ -152,17 +152,21 @@ def leaf_key_paths(
         x, prefix=join_key(prefix, p), is_leaf=is_leaf, use_state_dict_keys=use_state_dict_keys
     )
 
+    out: PyTree[str]
+
     if is_leaf is not None and is_leaf(pytree):
-        return prefix
+        out = prefix
+    elif pytree is None:
+        out = None
     elif isinstance(pytree, dict):
-        return {k: rec(v, k) for k, v in pytree.items()}
+        out = {k: rec(v, k) for k, v in pytree.items()}
     elif _isnamedtupleinstance(pytree):
         d = {k: rec(v, k) for k, v in pytree._asdict().items()}
-        return pytree.__class__(**d)
+        out = pytree.__class__(**d)
     elif isinstance(pytree, list):
-        return [rec(v, str(i)) for i, v in enumerate(pytree)]
+        out = [rec(v, str(i)) for i, v in enumerate(pytree)]
     elif isinstance(pytree, tuple):
-        return tuple(rec(v, str(i)) for i, v in enumerate(pytree))
+        out = tuple(rec(v, str(i)) for i, v in enumerate(pytree))
     elif isinstance(pytree, eqx.Module):
         names = []
         rec_values = []
@@ -181,17 +185,17 @@ def leaf_key_paths(
 
         _, tree_def = eqx.tree_flatten_one_level(pytree)
         out = jax.tree_util.tree_unflatten(tree_def, rec_values)
-        return out
-        # this doesn't work reliably because tree_at doesn't like none values
-        # return eqx.tree_at(lambda m: [getattr(m, name) for name in names], pytree, rec_values, is_leaf=lambda x: x is None)
     else:
         leaves, treedef = jax.tree_util.tree_flatten(pytree, is_leaf=is_leaf)
         if len(leaves) == 0:
-            return None
+            out = None
         elif len(leaves) == 1:
-            return jax.tree_util.tree_unflatten(treedef, [f"{prefix}"])
+            out = jax.tree_util.tree_unflatten(treedef, [f"{prefix}"])
         else:
-            return jax.tree_util.tree_unflatten(treedef, [join_key(prefix, str(i)) for i in range(len(leaves))])
+            out = jax.tree_util.tree_unflatten(treedef, [join_key(prefix, str(i)) for i in range(len(leaves))])
+
+    # assert len(jax.tree.leaves(out, is_leaf=is_leaf)) == len(jax.tree.leaves(pytree, is_leaf=is_leaf)), (out, pytree)
+    return out
 
 
 def join_key(prefix, k):