diff --git a/eth/ethconfig/config.go b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
index 519f22a964..950206c657 100644
--- a/eth/ethconfig/config.go
+++ b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ var Defaults = Config{
 	TrieCleanCache:     154,
 	TrieDirtyCache:     256,
 	TrieTimeout:        60 * time.Minute,
-	TrieDBJournal:      "triedb.journal",
+	TrieDBJournal:      "triedb.journal.rlp",
 	SnapshotCache:      102,
 	FilterLogCacheSize: 32,
 	Miner:              miner.DefaultConfig,
diff --git a/triedb/pathdb/journal.go b/triedb/pathdb/journal.go
index cbecef456f..e6a26937d9 100644
--- a/triedb/pathdb/journal.go
+++ b/triedb/pathdb/journal.go
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ func (db *Database) Journal(root common.Hash) error {
 		var err error
 		file, err = os.OpenFile(tmpName, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0644)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to open journal file %s: %w", db.config.JournalPath, err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to open journal file %s: %w", tmpName, err)
 		}
 		defer func() {
 			if file != nil {