Just curious. I found this guy hanging out under a rafter on the patio just outside my back door. It’s been there for hours.
Oh – Location: 48° 56’ N, 122° 45’ W
That’s Birch Bay, WA; just about as far north and west as you can get and still be in the lower 48.
I’m not arachnologist, but it looks like some sort of orb-weaving spider to me. I’ve heard spiders like that called by the generic name of St. Andrews Cross spiders, but i’m sure someone will be along soon who knows more about this sort of thing than i do.
Looking through the 16 pages of orb-weaving spiders here, i didn’t find any that were identical to yours, but there are a few that look quite similar.
That’s what I thought as well, but it’s not in a web. This area crawls with orb-weavers, and this one would be the first I’ve seen that isn’t in a web.
We also have these other spiders of similar size that live on the ground. I usually see them when I move the trash can or something. They’re dark grey and have little bumps on their backs. I’ll try to get a photo next time I see one.
Looks like a Male Orb-Weaver to me.
A male of the “Great Salt Lake” spiders perhaps.
compare to this: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bugguide.net/images/raw/XRJZ0RRH5RZH2RFZJLPL3L9LKRELRZNLIZCL0Z2L7R3Z6R0H7RFZ2R1L7ZKH4RCZGRHHGRRH7Z0H.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bugguide.net/node/view/13973/bgimage&h=560&w=487&sz=155&tbnid=pzmTA1VsFmYJ:&tbnh=131&tbnw=113&hl=en&start=11&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMale%2BOrb-Weaver%2B%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
or this http://bugguide.net/images/raw/XRJZ0RRH5RZH2RFZJLPL3L9LKRELRZNLIZCL0Z2L7R3Z6R0H7RFZ2R1L7ZKH4RCZGRHHGRRH7Z0H.jpg
It’s lovely.
I had a Wolf spider on my wall a few days ago. he was pretty happy to be let back outside.
(You’ve probably guessed that I’m not afraid of spiders. ;))
I would hope that arachniphobes understand that the link is to a photo. 
GAAaaah…
I’ve seen spiders similar to that hanging out in webs though. The garden at my parents’ place in White Rock is full of them, and since I rather doubt that spiders care about things like borders, I’d be willing to bet that you’ve got the same kinds of bugs in Birch Bay.
Are those the really fuzzy ones that can jump like you wouldn’t believe? I’m not generally arachnophobic, but those things give me the creeps.
Looks like some of the wolf spiders we have here in North Carolina. Here’s one link to spiders in your neck of the woods.
They do bite, and it hurts alot when they do. But they’re great hunters.
It looks like a wolf spider, but it’s kind of small for that.
Check out this page:
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/wildthing/orbweaver.htm
I think it’s definitely some sort of orb weaver…